Kampala — A number of employees at the Directorate of Public Prosecutions were yesterday a subject of criminal investigation after thieves gained mysterious entry into their Kampala headquarters and stole records of high-profile cases, among them Global Fund files.

Staff members who reported to work early were surprised to find the doors of several offices ajar yet it is understood they had been locked the previous evening, something that sparked panic and confusion.

Mr Richard Butera, the Director of Public Prosecutions, confirmed to Daily Monitor last evening that some unknown persons raided his offices on 12th Floor, Workers House in the city centre on Wednesday night, stealing laptop computers and documents stored on 10 other desktops.

"Yes, it is true when we reported to work we found some offices were opened and two laptops stolen and some computers interfered with," he said, without disclosing specifics. Daily Monitor, however, learnt that the thugs targeted the room of the officers prosecuting persons implicated in mismanaging the $201 million Global Fund. The DPP's office and that of his secretary were also invaded.

As a team of senior police investigators, led by D/ASP Moses Andrew Diiba, the CID officer at Kampala Central Police Station, began inquiries, it emerged that the thugs walked away with several computer hard disk drives and RAM (Random Access Memory) chips.

DPP Butera said: "Since they interfered with some computers, some of our information maybe in the possession of [unauthorised persons] but it is not worrying. We are not going to have any problems with any of the cases that we are handling."

It is understood the leak of such sensitive information could help suspected capital offenders or serious fraudsters know beforehand the entire mass of evidence against them, and assemble infallible defences. Unauthorised access to the case files too could also jeopardise the safety of potential prosecution witnesses.

Mr Butera yesterday said speculations could derail investigators from establishing the truth.

Detectives interrogated and recorded statements from about a dozen staff from the office attendant to top officers, casting a wide net in which they hope to catch probable inside accomplices.

Mr Samson Lubega, the deputy Police spokesperson, said last night that although there are no clues for probable motive of the high-profile theft, they suspect the attackers used either the original or duplicate keys to open the doors. "Police is looking at the possibility of 'constructive' office breaking; it could be people from within the DPP's office or some other person(s) who had duplicate keys," he said. Police had not arrested any suspect by last night.

Wednesday night's raid is the second on a major government institution in less than two weeks following last week's raid at the Uganda National Bureau of Standards offices in Kamwokya in which computer data drives and memory chips were also stolen.

Hundreds of individuals and organisations were implicated in the Global Fund scam and there are many who would wish to see prosecution of those cases fail. The recently-formed Anti-Corruption Court, which is prosecuting suspects of the fraud, has already jailed Mr Teddy Sseezi Cheeye, a former director for economic monitoring in the President's Office, for 10 years for embezzling Global Fund money.

On Tuesday, Justice John Bosco Katutsi is expected to pass judgment against Ms Annaliza Mondon and Ms Elizabeth Ngororano both directors of Valued Health, a local NGO accused of mismanaging Shs18.7m from the Fund. Former Health minister Jim Muhwezi and his ex-deputies; Mr Mike Mukula and Dr Alex Kamugisha are awaiting trial for allegedly misappropriating money meant for HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria treatment as well as immunisation.