Kikonyogo Ngatya
11 July 2009
Kampala — City tycoon Gordon Wavamunno, whose company is implicated in making fake car and motorcycle number plates, has named a Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) official who has allegedly been issuing fake orders to print the numbers.
This follows a warning from URA to suspend GM Tumpeco from printing official car number plates by July 16 after a list of 120 fake plates for cars and vehicles was printed by the company.
URA accused GM Tumpeco of conspiracy to defraud taxes by printing fake plates for a racket of unscrupulous con men and tax evaders, which accusation it has denied . In a secret letter Mr Wavamunno wrote to URA, he said Ms Deborah Namyalo attached to URA Nakawa office was the source of the problem, but she was being protected by unscrupulous officials involved in the fraud scam.
Mr Wavamunno said Ms Namyalo was sometime back arrested at GM factory in Ntinda with fake orders and taken to court, in which two of his ( Wavamunno's) employees testified against her. "Some of our staff members; Mr Wanditi Joseph and Mr Mugambwa Siraje, actually testified against her in court. Unfortunately, we do not know what became of the case," Mr Wavamunno said.
But a senior URA officer, who declined to be named because she is not authorised to make media comments, said yesterday that Ms Namyalo ceased to work with the tax body long before the start of the scam.
The 120 fake number plates by GM Tumpeco were printed between August 2008 and February 2009, according to URA. The letter is also copied to the Ministry of Works, who gave GM Tumpeco the contract to make the plates.
Mr Wavamunno said he was not happy with the accusations levied against his company because URA had deliberately withdrawn its staff from their (GM's) printing premises.
"They would check with plates printing orders were fake or genuine. We ask URA, where are the officers, no answer," he said .
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