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Four top Fort Portal leaders remanded over forgery
Fort Portal leaders Sylvia Kihunde, Suzan Kyomuhendo, Ben Mutooro Musinguzi and Richard Agaba appear in the dock on August 8, 2023 at a court in Fort Portal City. PHOTO/ALEX ASHABA
What you need to know:
- This follows their arrests on Monday by State House Anti-Corruption officials in Kampala, where they had been summoned.
Fort Portal's Deputy City Clerk Richard Agaba together with three other civil servants have been remanded to Katojo Government Prison until August 14, following the denial of their bail application on Tuesday.
The three include the secretary to the city service commission Suzan Kyomuhendo, newly recruited internal auditor Sylvia Kihunde and the city records assistant Ben Mutooro Musinguzi.
The accused are facing charges of forgery of official documents, conspiracy to commit a felony, and falsification of a register in the dispatch register of appointment letters.
This follows their arrests on Monday by State House Anti-Corruption officials in Kampala, where they had been summoned.
Appearing before Chief Magistrate Moses Nabende at the Fort Portal Court on Tuesday, the four individuals were remanded after pleading not guilty to the charges against them.
However, the accused face at least 49 counts.
On Tuesday, Chief Magistrate Nabende explained that Agaba and others at large are accused of forging official documents to issue appointment letters dated June 29, 2023, despite the Ministry of Public Service Commission having halted the recruitment process as stated in a notice issued June 30, 2023.
Among the recipients of the appointment letters are 23 individuals, including Sylvia Kihunde, who was appointed as an internal auditor, Kasinge Aloysius, principal human resource officer, economist John Bosco Byaruhanga and Patrick Kisembo as an assistant law enforcement officer among others.
Musinguzi, employed as a records assistant in the registry office, is alleged to have falsified the register by making false entries in the dispatch register of appointment letters on June 29 and 30 respectively.
These entries pertained to newly recruited staff who had received appointment letters issued by Fort Portal City clerk Agaba, court documents show.
Kihunde, on the other hand, faces accusations of falsely entering her appointment letter into the dispatch register on June 30.
Despite defence lawyer Charles Musinguzi applying for bail, the State Attorney, Aryong Josephine, informed the court that she was unable to proceed with the application.
“I am not ready to proceed with the bail application, I received this file today (Tuesday) afternoon from our headquarters. I have not internalized it and because of that I will not participate in the bail application,” She said.
In his ruling, Chief Magistrate Moses Nabende acknowledged the accused individual's right to bail application, fixing a hearing for the same at 9am on August 14, 2023.
