Monday, April 19, 2004
We Are Not Connected With Ezra's Wealth, Says US
By WAIRAGALA WAKABI
THE EASTAFRICAN
WITH UGANDAN intelligence agencies reportedly stepping up investigations into the dealings of businessman Mike Ezra, the US government has dismissed speculation that it is the source of some of the money.
The denial came amid widespread speculation and media reports that the US government had given Mr Ezra a hefty reward for helping to track down the killers of two American nationals in Uganda�s Bwindi National Park five years ago. Under its "Rewards for Justice" programme, the US offered a bounty of $5 million for information leading to the capture of the killers.
But Mark Schlachter, spokesman of the US embassy in Kampala, told The EastAfrican that the US had not offered the Bwindi reward to Ezra or to any other person. "The reward still stands," he said. "There is no money that has been paid for the Bwindi killings."
He also denied that the US government had provided Mr Ezra with guards. "It is an interesting story but it is not a true story," Mr Schlachter said.
Mr Ezra, the 31-year-old Ugandan who has been donating huge sums of money at fundraisings and on sports programmes, is the subject of wild speculation, as he refuses to disclose the source of his funds. His aides claim that Mr Ezra, who earlier this year bid �60 million ($96 million) to buy English premiership football club Leeds, has up to $500 million in an account in Hong Kong, as well as properties in several countries.
Until recently, Mr Ezra lived in the US and it is believed he made some of his money there. It was not possible to speak to Mr Ezra Last week. His aide, Johnson Kasajja, told The EastAfrican that he was not ready to comment on speculation about his source of income and reports in the local media that Ezra was four years ago arrested, charged and convicted for forgery, impersonating a military intelligence officer and blackmail.
The EastAfrican has learnt that the local media reports on Ezra�s supposed run-in with the law were the result of a deliberate security leakage. Both the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and the Chieftaincy for Military Intelligence (CMI) maintain dossiers on the mysterious businessman.
While it emerged last week that the External Security Organisation (ESO) had given Ezra a diplomatic passport and used him to persuade some exiles to return from the Democratic Republic of Congo, security agencies in the country are investigating the source of his finances as none of his businesses is known.
Mr Ezra is said to have facilitated a series of meetings in Kinshasa between senior ESO officials and exiles living in that country. A security official said last Friday on condition of anonymity that they routinely launched investigations whenever huge sums of money were brought into the country. "Such money can be laundered, or from drugs, or even connected to terrorist networks," said the official. In the course of investigations into Mr Ezra�s dealings, it had reportedly been decided last week that his diplomatic passport be withdrawn.
However, some government officials have spoken out in defence of the businessman. Brig Jim Muhwezi, the Minister of Health who for a long time was the head of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO), said Mr Ezra�s critics were envious of his riches. He praised Mr Ezra�s magnanimity, but said the government would investigate any complaints it received about him.
The EastAfrican has learnt that Ezra indeed tried to claim the Bwindi reward money from the Americans, saying he had extensive and reliable sources in Congo where the killers of the tourists were believed to be hiding. The money was, however, not given to him because he did not deliver the killers. The offer of the reward is still posted on the Reward for Justice programme website, www.rewardsforjustice.net .
Uganda�s Criminal Investigations Department also tried to claim the reward after arresting a suspect but the Americans did not believe that the suspect was part of the killer gang and he was subsequently freed. On March 1, 1999, about 100 Intarahamwe fighters attacked tourists at Bwindi, killing eight of them and their Ugandan guide. Two Americans � Susan Miller and Robert Haubner � were killed along with two Britons and four New Zealanders by people who left a note saying they were punishing America for supporting a minority Tutsi regime in Rwanda. The US says the killers were Rwandan Hutu militia � Interahamwe � based in Congo.
Several teams of agents from the Federal Bureau of investigations (FBI) who have been to Uganda, Rwanda and eastern Congo have failed to apprehend the killers. Sources claimed that while Miller and Haubner passed themselves off as employees of computer chips maker Intel, they were actually Special Agents. The FBI, which reportedly operated out of the US Regional/Great Lakes Security Office in Kampala, recovered a handbag, identification documents and other property stolen from the slain tourists.
Regional diplomatic sources say that US war crimes envoy Richard Prosper, who toured East Africa last November, asked his country's security agents in the region to invigorate investigations into the Bwindi murder. He said the surrender of former Rwandan rebel leader Paul Rwarakabije should lead to the arrest of the killers.
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