Pastor Ssemanda remanded over 17 fraud cases
KAMPALA- Pastor Siraji Ssemanda of Revival Church Ministries in Bombo was yesterday remanded to Kitalya Prison over mass fraud.
Pastor Ssemanda appeared before the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court on 17 fraud charges in two separate files.
He is accused of fleecing thousands of people of millions of shillings with false promises.
The State House Anti-Corruption Unit led by Lt Col Edith Nakalema and the police arrested him at Mutukula border with Tanzania while fleeing Uganda after cases had been reported against him.
Mr Ssemanda denied the charges yesterday and Grade One Magistrate Joan Cate Acaa remanded him until December 2.
“In case you want to apply for bail, it is deferred to December 2. You are remanded untill then,” Ms Acaa ruled.
State Attorney Mariam Akite asked court to remand the pastor to allow the investigators track and arrest his alleged accomplices who are still on the run.
Tororo case
In a separate case file, another magistrate, Gladys Kamasanyu, remanded Pastor Ssemanda until November 20 to allow the prosecution ascertain the jurisdiction of the case regarding obtaining more than Shs82m by false pretence in Tororo District.
On this case, he is jointly charged with another pastor and a lawyer (both names withheld) for defrauding the public by false promises of trips abroad and meeting President Museveni to benefit from government programmes.
It is alleged that they extorted more than Shs5 billion from people falsely promising them bursaries, foreign trips to Israel and South Africa as well as benefits from government programmes under the Operation Wealth Creation.
Prosecution alleges that between 2017 and August 2020, directors of more than 400 private schools and 30,000 people, among them Pentecostal pastors and believers from various parts of the country, were mobilised and duped into paying monies to benefit from different government initiatives to improve livelihoods.
