Kampala — THREE staff of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) IT department have been interdicted to pave way for investigations into allegations of malpractice.

Patrick Mukiibi, the URA spokesman, said the three were being investigated over allegations of what he termed as "revenue leakage."

He clarified that Bemba Kalema, the head of the IT department, was not among the three.

The tax body yesterday also dismissed media reports of an alleged loss of sh40b in a cyber scam orchestrated by its IT department.

"The Uganda Revenue Authority carries out routine audits both internally and externally and this should not be a cause of panic," Mukiibi said.

There was no way, he said, a fraud of such a magnitude, perpetrated by manipulation of systems at the organisation would go undetected.

He was reacting to a Red Pepper report alleging massive fraud at URA.

The report claimed that several IT staff, including Kalema, had been interdicted to pave way for investigations.

The other names mentioned in the report, Mukiibi said, were for people not known as staff of URA.