Kiganda Ssonko
5 July 2009
Kampala — A KAMPALA lawyer implicated in the vehicle registration scam has blamed the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) for failure to crackdown on fraudsters.
Ambrose Tebyasa said he reported a case at CPS Kampala in February about how he was defrauded by clearing agents allegedly working with URA employees but was surprised that URA instead accused him of fraud.
"I notified URA how I was defrauded by its people and clearing agents. Because they thought I was offending their image, they connected me to those I was accusing," he said.
Tebyasa was recently reported in the media to have three vehicles, a Toyota Prado, a Benz and a Caldina, with forged number plates.
He said last year, he used Abu Kamara and Ronnie Hakiza of Amco Logistics, a clearing firm to clear his vehicles but they delivered forged receipts for registration, logo books and number plates to him.
He said he had also applied for a personalised number plate for a Prado as 'TAK' an abbreviation of his name.
"I gave Kamara sh5m for a personalised number of the Prado plus sh16.5m in taxes, sh6.2m for the Benz and sh4.2m for the Caldina. He delivered all documents and I started using the vehicles. But the URA enforcement officers impounded the Prado in February, alleging that it was not mine."
"Following this incident, I decided to verify its documents plus those of the Benz and the Caldina but I discovered that all the documents were forged.
"I wrote to the commissioner general (Allen Kagina) about the scam but she has been slow in handling the matter."
"By charging me jointly with the people I reported, it's a ploy by URA to cover up evidence against fraudsters. Its employees also want to own my vehicles via a staged auction."
But Sarah Birungi, the URA assistant commissioner for public and corporate affairs, said Tebyasa and nine others had a case to answer.
"Tebyasa is charged with having custody of uncharged goods. On the charge sheet, there are two URA employees and four clearing agents.
"URA is not the problem. We are not covering up anyone," Birungi explained.
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