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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The former Principal Accountant in the Ministry of Public Service Christopher Obey has died.
According to the Uganda Prisons Spokesperson Frank Baine, Obey passed away from the Intensive Care Unit at Mulago Hospital where he was rushed on Thursday.
“Christopher Obey has gone to be with the Lord. I’m still waiting for a Postmortem report. He has been having Pneumonia once in a while but this time it became serious and we treated him until yesterday when he was referred to Mulago and God has decided to call him today at around 3 pm”, said Baine.
Obey has been in Luzira prison serving a 14-year jail term handed to him and three others by the Anti-Corruption Court Judge Margaret Tibulya in 2018.
The others are the late Bob Kasango who died in February 2021 and was serving a 16-year jail term, Jimmy Lwamafa the former Permanent Secretary Ministry of Public Service and Stephen Kiwanuka Kunsa the Commissioner in Charge of Compensation who were all handed a nine-year jail term.
The group was found guilty of conspiring to forge a certificate of taxation and a certificate of costs directing the Attorney General to pay Kasango’s defunct law firm Hall and Partners 15.4 billion Shillings. According to the Prosecution, this money was meant for pension and gratuity for more than 6,340 pensioners between 2011 and 2012.
But the group challenged this conviction and subsequent sentence before a panel of Court of Appeal Justices who included Lady Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, Muzamir Mutangula Kibeedi and Remmy Kasule.
Before this 2018 conviction, Obey had already been convicted and sentenced to serve a ten-year jail sentence by the Anti-Corruption Court Judge Lawrence Gidudu for irregular budgeting of 88.2 billion shillings during the financial year 2010/2011.
The court found that Obey, Lwamafa and Kunsa had indicated that the money was meant for civil servants’ contribution to NSSF well knowing that government workers are not required to contribute to NSSF.
However, this punishment which ranged between one to ten years excluded Kasango since he had not been part of this trial but later joined the group in 2018 on the said forgery related charges.
Obey was being represented by city lawyer Evans Ochieng.
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