Kampala — MTN Uganda Limited has been ordered to pay more than 2.3 billion shillings to its former Senior Manager, Richard Mwami, after finding that the telecommunications company maliciously instigated his prosecution in the MTN Mobile Money fraud case.
Mwami, who served as Senior Manager for MTN Village Phone before becoming Senior Manager for Public Access, reportedly detected suspicious transactions on MTN's Fundamo mobile money platform in December 2011 and promptly alerted senior management, triggering investigations into the fraud.
MTN Uganda subsequently commissioned Grant Thornton to conduct a forensic audit, which cleared Mwami of any involvement in the theft. Despite this, the company relied on a charge and caution statement allegedly made by one of the suspects, Patrick Ssentongo, to implicate Mwami, leading to his arrest and prosecution.
That statement was later rejected by the Anti-Corruption Court after Justice Lawrence Gidudu ruled that it had been obtained involuntarily and through unlawful means. In his judgment, Justice Bonny Isaac Teko found that MTN employees were directly involved in the circumstances under which the statement was procured and that the company failed to rebut evidence linking its officials to the process.
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Mwami was acquitted in December 2015 after the trial court found no evidence connecting him to the offences and described him as a "sacrificial lamb" who should have been a prosecution witness rather than an accused person. He subsequently sued MTN Uganda for malicious prosecution.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Teko, the court found that MTN Uganda was the driving force behind Mwami's prosecution despite possessing a forensic report that had exonerated him of any involvement in the theft of approximately 16 billion Shillings from the company's mobile money platform.
The judge held that MTN lacked reasonable and probable cause to initiate the prosecution because it ignored the forensic findings and instead relied solely on a confession that was later declared inadmissible. The court further concluded that the company acted with malice by using the criminal justice process for an improper purpose.
Justice Teko observed that Mwami, who had exposed the fraud as a whistleblower, was arrested more than a year after investigations had concluded and after criminal proceedings had already been instituted against other suspects.
The court also noted that Mwami was arrested by the Violent Crimes Crack Unit, a police unit ordinarily associated with serious violent offences, despite there being no evidence linking him to the fraud.
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Justice Teko accepted Mwami's evidence that the prosecution destroyed his professional career after the Bank of Uganda classified him as a reputational risk, resulting in the termination of his employment with Mobile Money Africa Limited.
The court further noted that Mwami spent seven days on remand at Luzira Prison, remained on restrictive bail conditions for more than two years, and suffered significant reputational damage after being publicly associated with the fraud allegations.
The court awarded Mwami 1.809 billion Shillings in special damages, 400 million Shillings in general damages and 100 million Shillings in exemplary damages. MTN Uganda was also ordered to pay interest at 10 per cent per annum from the date of judgment until full payment, in addition to the costs of the suit.
In assessing damages, the court upheld Mwami's claims for lost salary, housing allowance and medical benefits arising from the loss of his employment. However, it rejected claims relating to the value of a company vehicle, performance bonuses and legal fees after finding that they had not been sufficiently proved.
Justice Teko held that an award of exemplary damages was necessary to deter powerful corporate entities from abusing the criminal justice system. Throughout the proceedings, MTN Uganda denied responsibility, arguing that the decision to charge Mwami had been made independently by the Uganda Police Force and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
The High Court, however, found that MTN Uganda's actions were instrumental in setting the prosecution in motion and held the company liable for malicious prosecution.
