South Sudan wins court case in Uganda Article Comments (5) Email PrintSave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 9, 2011 (KAMPALA) – The Government of South Sudan (GoSS) recovered money belonging to students, fraudulently channelled to personal account in 2009 after a long court battle in Uganda’s Anti-Corruption Court last week. Sentenced for theft: Felix Clive Arim Oceng (GoSS Liaison video photo) On 31 March 2011 a ruling by Esther Nasambu Rebecca, a senior magistrate at The High Court of Uganda at Kampala Anti-Corruption Division, sentenced the accused to 60 months imprisonment and ordered return of US$133,060 to the GoSS Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), having already refunded US$ 190,000 in a 2009 ruling. Court papers seen by the Sudan Tribune indicate that Felix Clive Arim Oceng, a Uganda national, had US$323, 060 wired to his bank account between 15 June and 14 July, 2009 intended for South Sudanese students studying in Uganda. The GoSS Liaison to Uganda then tried in vain to withdraw the cash for distribution to students. He was unsuccessful and brought Arim Oceng to court. Oceng worked in Juba for MoEST at the time, he was entrusted with the cash but not entitled to carry out the transaction on behalf of the GoSS Liaison office to Uganda. According to court documents, Oceng said the money he received belonged to him because he had done work at the GoSS ministry about streamlining the payment of tuition fees for their students in Uganda amounting to US$725,000 and that the US$323,060 was just half payment. However, evidence provided by witnesses, including the banks where transactions were made, proved to the court that Oceng stole the money. NO MERCY “Though the convict [Oceng] is first offender, according to the prosecution, he deserves a deterrent sentence for abusing the trust put in him by GoSS,” said Nasambu, the magistrate. The Uganda court defended its decision by noting that Oceng – who is an Information Technology graduate from the University of Greenwich (UK), had not acted in a good faith by stealing money meant for students’ tuition fees saying, “He did not show mercy to these students [,] why then should the court show mercy to him?” The count sentenced Oceng to 60 months for theft under article 261 of Uganda’s Penal Code Act. He was also handed another 60 months for receiving stolen property under the penal court. Both sentences will run concurrently. He is also ordered to return the remaining US $133,060 to the MoEST since he had already refunded US$190,000. GoSS VICTORIOUS The GoSS Liaison head officer at the Education Attaché to Uganda, Lual Akol Nhial, calls the ruling a “victory” and a lesson in the recruitment of foreign nationals in sensitive positions. “We feel we are very victorious [for] having won a high profile case in a foreign country,” he said. “We must be careful with [foreign] people who are in charge of affairs [in South Sudan]. What I have personal learnt is that it was not easy to follow. It was very rough but the government [of South Sudan] was committed and together we emerged victorious,” he added. Nhial appreciated the neutrality of the Uganda Anti-Corruption Court for what he describes as “no sense of biasness in seeing issues.” Nhial also called upon the Anti-Corruption Court of Uganda for continued cooperation until the money is fully recovered from Oceng. Lawyers for the accused, who is now in a jail in Kampala, have launched an appeal for the sentence to be overturned. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
