Four district officials arrested over Shs400m Apac salary fraud

Four senior officials working with Apac District local government accused of being involved in a Shs400 million salary scandal have been rearrested.

The suspects, who were apprehended on Monday evening, include; the chief finance officer, senior human resource officer, a senior accountant and the district sports officer.

The suspects are now being detained at Apac Central Police Station pending transfer to Kampala, Apac Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mr Emma Ngabirano said.

“My brother, it was not an easy battle,” the RDC said when contacted on Monday night, adding that the suspects’ arrest followed investigations by the police into the fraud syndicate.

The suspects were first arrested and detained at Apac Central Police Station before being released on police bond.

“The file was sanctioned; if the file was sanctioned it means the bond is canceled and finally they are there at the Apac Central Police Station. But it has not been easy,” the RDC added.

However, their co-accused, the former Apac Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) who is now working in Adjumani District, Mr Michael Mwanje, is still at large.  

Apac District police commander, ASP Jessica Naawe, confirmed that all the four suspects were under custody at Apac Central Police Station but declined to divulge details.

“I can’t comment on things being investigated, moreover by CID headquarters, not us,” she said.

 Genesis

In October this year, overpaid wages in Apac District resulted in a Shs400 million loss.

The alleged irregularities in payment of 18 staff – most of whom are teachers and health workers – was in June 2021. 

Beneficiaries of the salary bonanza are mostly junior staff who earn peanuts. The salary scandal has also sucked in some people who received Shs35m each. Others were paid twice. 

The embezzled funds were supposed to be returned to the Treasury at the end of the financial year ending June 30.  This followed Apac District’s failure to utilise all the money because it lacks a substantial District Service Commission to support staff recruitment. 

The suspects who fraudulently accounted for the unused funds, reportedly distributed the money among their core trusted relatives and friends. The fraud syndicate took place on the government’s Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) under the watch of Mr Mwanje.

It was detailed in a report from the Internal Audit dated September 13, 2021. 

“On review of the payroll for the last quarter of Financial Year 2020/2021, as our mandate, the salary payment register revealed that a number of employees received payments which are doubtful and need deeper explanations from the officers that are charged with the responsibility of salary payment and the beneficiaries,” Mr Moses Aduche, the caretaker of Principal Internal Auditor of Apac said. 

Mr Aduche added that beneficiaries of the fraud syndicate have either not responded or are claiming “it’s their accumulated salary arrears.”

In an October 4 letter addressed to the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Local Government, the new CAO, Mr Grandfield Oryono Omonda, acknowledged the presence of a problem. The CAO has consequently requested the ministry to send inspectors to Apac.