Government Confiscates Kazinda’s Property

The government of Uganda has confiscated property belonging to the jailed former principal accountant in the Prime Minister’s office, Godfrey Kazinda.

The Inspector General of Government (IGG) has started the process of confiscating assets of Geoffrey Kazinda, former principal accountant in the Prime Minister’s office, who was convicted late last year for illicit enrichment or criminal wealth.

The spokesperson of the Inspector General of Government (IGG) Munira Ali confirmed the property was confiscated following an Anti-Corruption case in which Kazinda was last year convicted over having illicit wealth.

“It’s true the property was confiscated following his conviction by the Anti-Corruption Court,”Munira told the Nile Post.

Asked whether the property would be auctioned to recover the money lost, the IGG spokesperson said they will have to wait.

Court

The Anti-Corruption Court in November 2020 jailed the former principal accountant in Office of the Prime Minister 15 years after being found guilty of illicit enrichment.

Kazinda was arrested in 2012 and arraigned before the Anti-Corruption Court in Kololo, Kampala where he was charged with abuse of office, fraudulent false accounting and one count of causing financial loss.

He was also charged with 26 counts of forgery and conspiracy to commit a felony.

However, the Anti-Corruption court again charged the embattled former principal accountant with amassing illicit wealth.

In November last year, Justice Margaret Tibulya of the same court, convicted and sentenced Kazinda to 15 years imprisonment after being found guilty of having rented Constellation suites in Nakasero and apartments in Kampala for ten months at a cost of shs 210 million, had a house and land at Kyadondo , Mengo West valued at shs3.1bn, cars including BMW,Mercedes Benz, ML class, Dodge saloon car all valued at shs769 million and diverting over 20bn government funds way beyond his salary.

“The maximum sentence for each of the counts is 10 years but considering the five years you have spent on remand, I have deducted the period to sentence you to five years for each of the three counts. You will serve the punishments consecutively and in total, you will serve 15 years,” Justice Tibulya said.

“Courts cannot allow convicts enjoy fruits of their conduct and allowing them retain proceeds of their crime would be unfair. At such a time when the country is struggling to pay debts over such people, a custodial sentence is inevitable.”

The judge consequently directed that Kazinda’s house and land at Kyadondo, Mengo West and all cars including BMW, Mercedes Benz, ML class, Dodge be confiscated by the state.

The IGG is also confiscating property of another corruption convict who has private mailo land in Bwebajja valued at Shs1.2b and another property valued at Shs160m on Block 192 in Buwate.

The Deputy IGG, Mr George Bamugemereire, told journalists yesterday that through plea-bargain arrangement, they have been able to recover more than Shs1.5b by sale of apartments illegally acquired by a civil servant whose name he declined to reveal.

“It is very interesting that there are people who are willing to surrender illegally acquired property, provided their names are not published because they do not have the cash. To them, their reputation is more important than the property,”  Mr Bamugemereire said.