NEWS– The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives Geraldine Ssali Busulwa will spend the night at Kira Division Police station until tomorrow afternoon when she will be arraigned before the Anti-corruption court on charges relating to diverting money that was meant by government to compensate war loss victims through their co-operative SACCOs.
Ssali was arrested today and after an interrogation with police investigators at CID-Kibuli , she has been brought at the Anti-corruption court but chief magistrate Joan Aciro declined to read the charges to her and instead sent her back to police awaiting a ruling on the legality of an amended charge sheet presented by the DPP.
Prosecution states that Geraldine Ssali Busulwa during the financial year 2021/ 2022 and 2022/ 2023 while employed as a permanent Secretary and assigned the role of an accounting officer in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and co-operatives, she irregularly introduced Buyaka Growers co-operative society limited among the co-operatives to be compensated by government for the war loss yet the same had not been listed for a supplementary budget of August 2021.
That Ssali in further performance of her duties, made irregular payments to a tune of 3, 868, 714, 611 billion shillings to Kirya and company advocates; a law firm belonging to co-suspect lawyer Julius Kirya Taitankonko under the guise of compensating war victims of Buyaka Growers co-operatives- Well knowing that her actions will cause government a Financial loss because the said payment was in contravention of the Treasury instructions of 2017.
Ssali is further accused of conspiring with Igara East Mp Michael Mawanda, Elgon County MP Iganatius Wamakuyu, Busiki County MP Paul Akamba , lawyer Julius Kirya Taitankonko and Leonard Kavundira ; a principle co-operative officer in the trade ministry to defraud Government of 3.4 billion shillings which was intended to compensate war victims for Buyaka Growers Co-operative society.
The new changes in the DPP’s charge sheet have also introduced new counts against the jailed Mps, Lawyer and the co-operative officer.
The new counts are, Receiving stolen property, stealing by agent , money laundering and Abuse of office to which prosecution maintains they must plead afresh to and their bail application earlier made on 9th/ July is overtaken by events. However the defence team has vehemently contested the new charges saying they are brought by the DPP in bad faith to hold their Clients longer on remand where they have already spent close to a month.
They say prosecution should instead make a response to the bail application as earlier agreed. Now chief magistrate Joan Aciro has ordered that Ssali goes back to police and be returned tomorrow afternoon to plead to the charges after the court has made a ruling on whether to admit the amended charge sheet containing the new charges.
The three MPs, lawyer and the co-operative officer have been further remanded to Luzira prison till tomorrow, Friday 19th July 2024.
