Former assistant commissioner in OPM loses appeal against 3-year sentence

The Court of Appeal has upheld the three-year jail term that was handed to the former assistant commissioner in charge of Karamoja in the OPM, Martin Etyang over embezzlement of government funds.

A panel of three Justices led by the Deputy Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny Dollo on Friday held that considering the evidence that was presented in totality, court rightly found Etyang guilty of embezzlement.
Other justices included Elizabeth Musoke and Percy Night Tuhaise also agreed that Etyang was rightly found guilty of false accounting.

His charges were as a result of his failure to account for money he was given to organize a workshop in Moroto District. He had allegedly forged signatures of participants who were supposed to attend the workshop whereas not.
Etyang had explained that the workshop was for one day as the participants had to spend a night in Moroto due to insecurity in the area, however the justices noted that there is a difference between a workshop taking two days and workshop for a day with participants spending an extra night.
“It is our view that the trial judge properly evaluated the evidence on record. The report of prosecution witness eleven (PW11) was based on accountability document submitted by the appellant for the two days ‘workshop which is not in dispute. The appellant was audited basing on the accountability he had submitted,” the justice held.

Court further explained that the investigating officer did not need to verify all the 59 participants to prove the false payments as the samples of the signatures of the twelve participants’ false payments casted doubt on the remaining participants who purportedly attended the workshop.

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Among the issues the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) had cleared was a sensitisation meeting for the local government officials in Karamoja sub-region, held in Moroto District on April 8, 2011.

The justices ordered Etyang to refund Sh31 million to the Office of the Prime Minster and also upheld the ten year order of being disqualified from holding a public office from the date of the judgment in the trial court.
On February 11, 2011, Etyang was paid over Shs49 million to carry out different activities in Karamoja region and purchasing of equipment for the offices which he did not do.

He had submitted an accountability for a two-day workshop of the stake holders in Karamoja yet it was one day. This was discovered after investigations were carried out during a corruption scandal.
He had forged documents about the accountability and in October 2015, Justice Margaret Tibulya found him guilty and sentenced him to three years in jail.

She had ordered Etyang to pay a fine of Shs35 million to government and that in default he was to serve additional two years.
However, the justices agreed with Etyang’s lawyer that the orders imposed on him by the trial judge where ambiguous.
“We must point out that where the appellant is required to compensate Government of the monies stolen, failure to do so cannot be substituted with a prison sentence. Government can only through the execution process recover compensation money from the convict. So compensation must be distinguished from a fine imposed under the Anti-Corruption Act. A prison sentence can only be imposed in the event the appellant does not pay the fine imposed as provided for under the Anti-Corruption Act,” the Justices argued.

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