Florence Nattu v Uganda(IGG) (Criminal Appeal No. 4 of 2022) [2022] UGHCACD 9 (7 December 2022)

THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA IN THE HIGH COURT OF UGANDA AT KAMPALA (Anti-CORRUPTION Division) CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. OO4 OF 2022 (Arising from HCT 00-AC 0048-2018) Florence Nattu:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

VERSUS

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Uganda (Igg):::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Judgment

Before Hon. Lady Justice Margaret Tibulya

This is a judgment on an appeal from the judgment and orders of a Magistrate Grade One Court sitting at Kololo. The appellant was convicted of Causing Financial loss in count 1 and Abuse of office in count 2. She was sentenced to payment of fines of Ugx 2,000,000/= and in default to serve 3 year's imprisonment on count 1. In count 2, she was sentenced to a fine of $Ugx$ 1,000,000/= and in default to serve 1 year's imprisonment. She was ordered to refund $Ugx 5,581,248/$ = to her employer.

The grounds on which the appeal is premised are;

- That the trial magistrate erred in law and fact when he failed to properly evaluate the evidence on record and thereby arrived at a wrong decision that the appellant caused financial loss, - That the trial magistrate erred in law and fact when he failed to properly evaluate the evidence on record and thereby arrived at a wrong decision that the appellant was guilty of abuse of office.

It is settled law that the role of a first appellate court is to re-appraise the evidence and subject it to an exhaustive scrutiny before drawing its own conclusions bearing in mind that it did not see the witnesses testifu, (Kifamute Henry vs Uganda (criminal case No 10/1997).

The prosecution bears the burden of proof, and must prove all ingredients of each offence beyond reasonable doubt.

With regard to the I st ground of appeal, the state had to prove that;

- rtheaccusedprocessedandfacilitatedpaymentofShs12,55l,6T0l: purpofted to be salary arrears for Nakkazi Maimuna andGe de LL Nakabiri, 2?/ \ - she knew that her action would cause financial ^I oss to her em er, a - rshecausedfinanciallossof5,SSl,24Sl=toKayungaDistrictLocal Govemment.

llhelher the accused processed ond facilitated payment of Shs 12'551'670t purporledlobesalaryorrearsforNakkaziMaimunaandGertrudeNokabiri.

Theappellantfaultsthecourt'sfindingthatshecapturedthedataandwas therefore aware of the existence of Nakkazi Maimuna and Gertrude Nakabiri on the pay roll. She maintains that the court ignored the evidence that thedataentrythatwasinitiallyhandledbySsebowawasverifiedandapproved

bytheapproverandtheCAowhoisthecentralpersonintherecruitment process.

This assertion however ignores the CAO's (Pw3 - Ezaruku Kazimiro)'s evidence that the appellant confirmed to him that the two names did not access the pay roll through the normal process ofpay change report but through data captureatUgandadataservicesattheMinistryofPublicService. PwT (MubiruRobert)wasmoreoverclearthatthetwopeoplewerecreatedonthe systembytheappellant'afactcorroboratedbytheresponsibleofficerfromthe MinistryofPublicServiceinacorrespondence(exhibitP8)totheinvestigating officer(Pw8. BaruDominicPaula). Itwasalsoconfirmedinthesame correspondence that the two people had also been paid though they were never U. teachers at Kanjuki SS' ,?,7

pw3's evidence that the accused confirmed to him that the two names did not accessthepayrollthroughthenormalprocesspointstotheguiltyknowledge ofthe appellant.

1\n

And, as the learned magistrate rightly noted, the appellant was a focal person and played a central role in management of the human resource and ofthe pay roll. Had she been not complicit in the scum she would have raised a red flag over the issue.

The above evidence supports the state assertion that the appellant entered false entries of particulars of the two ghost teachers on the payroll of Kayunga District LocalGovemmentindicatingthatthetwopersonswerepostedasteachersof Kanjuki SSS whereas not, an act which caused financial loss of Ugx 5,581,248/: and which amounted to abuse of office. The learned magistrate therefore rightly found that the accused processed and facilitated payment of the money in issue purported to be salary arrears for Nakkazi Maimuna and Gertrude Nakabiri.

llhether she knew that her action would cause Jinoncial loss to her employer.

The accused only denies that she made the impugned entries (which has been disproved) but does not deny that she knew that the two persons were not teachers ofKanjuki SS. Since the two persons were not teachers at Kanjuki SS, payment of money to them would certainly cause The learned magistrate therefore rightly found so. financial loss to payer. /1 .

4\ llhether she caused Jinonciol loss of 5,581,218h to Kayunga District Local Governmenl.

Pw's 6 (Lukande Paul Rogers), 7 (Robert Mubiru), and 9 (Sarah Magoola) all testified that the two ghost persons were paid money and that 5,581,218t was not recovered. Since payment of money to none-existent persons amounts to a loss, the learned magistrate rightly found that the appellant caused financial loss of 5,581,2481= to Kayunga District Local Govemment.

On the whole, there was sufficient evidence to ground an adverse finding against the appellant. The first ground of appeal fails.

The second ground relates to the appellant's conviction for abuse of office. The appellant repeats her denial that she made the impugned entries, which has been sufficiently interrogated and found to be untrue. Based on evidence that the accused made the false entries, the learned magistrate rightly found that the appellant did an arbitrary act. The false entries led to loss of funds by the Local Government, which was prejudicial to the interests of the appellant's employer.

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The assertion that the trial magistrate erred in law and fact when he failed to properly evaluate the evidence on record and thereby arrived at a wrong decision that the appellant was guilty of abuse of office has no merit.

The appeal is dismissed in its entirety, and the decision and orders of the lower court are upheld.

$ga$

Hon, Lady Justice Margaret Tibulya Judge 2^nd December 2022.