Angelo Izama and Norman Miwambo
29 August 2008
The British government yesterday said it would return 40,000 pound sterling (about Shs120 million) to Uganda, part of a bribe paid by a Danish national to Presidential Adviser Ananias Tumukunde, currently awaiting trial in a London jail.
The Danish national, Niels Jørgen Tobiasen, was convicted a week ago after pleading guilty to paying the bribe.
In a statement circulated yesterday, the UK's overseas aid agency, the Department for International Development (Dfid), said Tobiasen's conviction marked a watershed moment in London's fight against individuals who bribe persons from developing countries.
Last Friday, Tobiasen, 55, a managing director of a UK-based weapons company, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court on one count of making corrupt payments.
He faces two other charges alongside Mr Tumukunde and Ugandan army biochemist Lt. Rusoke Tagaswire of entering an agreement with Mr Tumukunde "knowing or suspecting that the arrangement would facilitate the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property by or on behalf of another person".
Tobiasen was arrested on July 17, while Mr Tumukunde had been picked up three months earlier on April 2.
The crown prosecutors allege that Mr Tobiasen "on the 15th day of January 2008 transferred criminal property, namely chemical and biological weapons to the Ugandan defendants.
It is not clear why part of the bribe paid by the Danish national is being given to the Ugandan government.
Lt. Tagaswire, an officer in the Presidential Guard Brigade, was last year appointed by President Yoweri Museveni to a probe team investigating the sudden and suspicious death of Brig. Noble Mayombo, the late permanent secretary of the Ministry of Defence. He is still at large.
Daily Monitor broke the story of the arrest of Mr Tumukunde who travelled on a Ugandan diplomatic passport. His trial begins on September 22, according to the Dfid country mission in Kampala.
In its statement, Dfid says this is UK's first foreign bribery prosecution. If convicted, Mr Tumukunde faces up to 56 years in jail since each of the four counts he faces carries a 14-year maximum sentence. Ugandan authorities have not publicly commented on this high-profile case.
Sources said the Ugandan government is footing a high bill for London-based lawyers retained to assist Mr Tumukunde.
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