David Livingstone Ebiru, the Executive Director of the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), was charged with offering a bribe (gratification), but he failed to attend, so the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala issued an arrest warrant for him.
Prosecutors Roger Kinobe and Diana Nantabazi from the Office of the Inspectorate of Government asked Chief Magistrate Joan Aciro of the Anti-Corruption Court to issue the warrant.
The prosecution claims that between October 2022 and December 2022, Ebiru corruptly offered Charles Masekuura, the chairperson of the UNBS Board, a gratification of 100 million Ugandan shillings in an effort to keep his job as the executive director of UNBS, where he held a public service position.
About two weeks ago, Ebiru was ordered to show up in court to answer official accusations, but he never did. Instead, he dispatched Paul Wanyoto and Silas Kahima Mugabi, who told the court that they were his attorneys.
Wanyoto informed the court that the court summons were delivered to him on August 4, 2023, a Friday, making it difficult to deliver them to his client over the weekend.
Additionally, the summons required Ebiru’s arrival on August 8th, 2023, yet it was dated August 26th, 2023, which complicated communication.
Prosecutor Kinobe responded by requesting an arrest warrant on the grounds that the accused must attend in person because no one else is permitted to enter a plea on their behalf in criminal proceedings.
Ebiru’s attorneys did not have enough time, according to Kinobe, to inform him of the summons, but they had already prepared a bail application and collected sureties, showing that they were aware of the court date.
In spite of being given a bond and being told by the Inspectorate of Government to return the previous Friday, Ebiru chose to send his attorneys, according to Kinobe. Chief Magistrate Aciro decided in accordance with the Inspectorate of Government and issued an arrest order for Ebiru.
Aciro emphasized that despite the criminal summons’ future-dated reference, Ebiru was well aware of the date of the court session because it was specified therein.
Aciro underlined that Ebiru’s proactive preparation for bail indicated that he was aware of the criminal summons and claimed that in the contemporary world, his attorneys may have communicated by email, SMS, or had access to the news.
As a result, Aciro found it difficult to believe the assertions made by Ebiru’s attorneys and mandated that Ebiru be taken into custody by the police as soon as they saw him.
He must appear in court on August 31, 2023. In a similar situation, Ebiru was recently put on a six-month forced leave due to claims of fraud and misbehavior by Francis Mwebesa, the minister of trade, industries, and cooperatives.
The Minister gave Ebiru an urgent leave of absence in order to allow investigations into alleged fund misappropriation, misconduct, and abuse of power. The letter announcing Ebiru’s suspension was dated July 20, 2023.
According to the Auditor General’s Report for the fiscal year 2021-2022, Ebiru is also charged with planning an improper expenditure of 12.5 billion Ugandan shillings on UNBS’s financial accounts.
The Public Accounts Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (PAC-COSASE), which is chaired by Joel Ssenyonyi, launched an investigation into this matter.
The investigation showed that Ebiru ordered the transfer of the disputed cash from the PVoC suppliers’ account to a GAIN account, a UNBS program approved to receive donor funds. GAIN is the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.
Charles Musekuura, the chairperson of the UNBS Board, revealed during the investigation that only 5.499 billion shillings of the 17.964 billion shillings in the GAIN account were approved for transfer to the Consolidated Fund by Ebiru.
According to Ebiru’s instructions, the remaining 12.464 billion shillings were used to sustain the Bureau’s operations.
Ebiru admitted that his actions were against the Public Finance Management Act of 2014, but he defended them by pointing to the Bureau’s crucial tasks in the wake of a 20 billion shilling budget cut during the revised fiscal year.
On June 26 and 27, 2023, the Inspectorate of Government and the UNBS Board, respectively, sent letters suspending Ebiru from office to enable investigations into the wrongdoing.
Ebiru acknowledged paying 100 million shillings in bribes to the UNBS Board to avoid suspension, money he reportedly borrowed.