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FORWARDED OKELLO: Fox Odoi |
--He is Mutale�s man, says Fox Odoi
By John Odyek
President Yoweri Museveni�s legal assistant, Fox Odoi, on Saturday said he deployed �Captain� James Fred Okello to work in the forestry department because he had useful information on senior government officials involved in illegal timber trade.
Okello, who has accused the environment minister Col. Kahinda Otafiire of smuggling timber and failure to pay taxes, is under arrest.
Odoi said Okello was introduced to him by former senior presidential advisor Major Roland Kakooza Mutale as an officer of the UPDF. Mutale told Odoi that Okello had also worked in the office of the minister for security.
Odoi said he saw Okello�s military movement permit before recommending him to Forestry. �Since he was a useful contact, I recommended that the forestry department use him,� Odoi told the Capital Gang talkshow. �I wrote to the PS but I never told them to set up a timber monitoring unit.�
O
doi said he received allegations that Okello was involved in extortion, and asked the forestry commissioner, Deus Byarugaba, about it.
�He told me there was no evidence of it but on the contrary, Okello had helped the department collect over sh170m in just three months. The commissioner said Okello had stepped on many people�s toes and it was natural that such accusations against him would arise.�
Otafiire, who was also in the Capital Radio studio, said Okello was an impostor who was dismissed while still an army private but has since illegally given himself the rank of captain, most likely on assuming the record and identity of the late Captain James Okello.
Otafiire said when Pte. Okello was dismissed, he joined Kakooza Mutale�s �outfit� from where he was introduced to Odoi.
Otafiire kept referring to Mutale as a captain, saying the former presidential advisor had never been promoted to major.
The irate minister said he first became susp
icious of Okello when he sensed his conduct was not that of a soldier, let alone an officer. The colonel then directed General Jeje Odong (his junior minister) to investigate. That is when, according to Otafiire, Okello defensively started concocting allegations against him.
In another development, Geoffrey Kamali reports that Okello was transferred on Saturday morning from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence to Central Police Station. He was, however, briefly returned to CMI at midday for further vetting.
His wife, Constance Naguti, on Saturday said she was allowed to visit him for the first time since his Thursday arrest. �He appeared well,� she said.
Naguti said a power saw said to have been recovered from their home during Okello�s arrest was not theirs. �My husband was told to sign for it but he refused, saying he could not sign for something he had no idea about,� she said.
Police sources said Okello would be produced in court on Mo
nday on charges of impersonation.
An army official who called Sunday Vision explained that CMI was never involved in Okello�s arrest, but that he was just taken to them for authentification.
Ends
Published on: Sunday, 21st September, 2003 |
