Threeways directors appear before anti-graft court
Chairman of three ways group limited Oscar Baitwa accompanied by lawyers after the anti corruption court. Photo by Joseph Kiggunddu
Court has set June 18 this year for the pre-trial in the case of two directors of Threeways Shipping Group Ltd in connection with alleged theft $3.8m (about sh9.5b) from MTN Uganda.
The Directors of the clearing firm; Mr Oscar Baitwa, the chief executive officer and Mr Geoffrey Bihamaiso, the managing director appeared before the Chief Magistrate, Ms Irene Akankwasa of the Anti-Corruption Division for mentioning of the case.
They are charged jointly with two former employees of telecom giant, MTN Uganda; Mr Naphatal Were (former senior logistics officer) and Mr John former accountant Paul Basabose who are also facing charges of embezzling $3.8m from the telecom by virtue of their office then.
The charges arose after Mr Were and Mr Basabose between 2009 and 2012 while employed by MTN, allegedly connived with Threeways Group and inflated invoices for equipment that it had not delivered and yet they had allegedly pocketed money.
However, the group denies the charges.
Ms Akankwasa set the pre-trial date after the accused persons through their lawyers; David Mpanga, Robert Friday Kagoro and Mulema Mukasa accused the state of failing the process.
Mr Kagoro complained that prosecution had not availed them with the documents that will be relied on during trial.
“As lawyers representing the accused persons, we have not received the documents as required and agreed in the previous session. It is in the interest of justice that we may not be able to proceed on the earlier agreed date of June 5 since we need time to internalize all the documents,” he said.
Mr Mpanga complained that while state led by Mr Robert Mackay availed him a file, some documents listed were missing.
“We don’t have full disclosure and therefore we are not ready for the pre-trial. This matter is complex, we therefore need a thorough preparation starting from the documents to avoid delays in the trial and waste of court’s time,” said Mr Mpanga before asking for more time.
Mr Mackay accepted the blame and promised to avail the required documents for the case to proceed.
