Africa-Press – Uganda. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will not appeal against what seems a lenient sentence the Anti Corruption Court handed to runaway former State minister for Labour Herbert Kabafunzaki.
On Friday, Justice Margaret Tibulya found Kabafunzaki guilty of receiving a Shs5m bribe from the Aya Group chairman, Mr Mohammed Mohammed Hamid.
The kickback was in exchange of clearing his name in the media of sexual harassment allegations that had been brought against him by one of his female Hilton Hotel employees.
Kabafunzaki was arrested in dramatic in full view of cameras at on April 8, 2017.
The judge, who sentenced Kabafunzaki in absentia after he had reportedly disappeared, ordered him to pay a Shs10m fine or in default, serve three years in jail.
“The office of the DPP cannot appeal against a sentence, our hands are tied by the law. The law specifically bars the DPP from appealing against a conviction and sentence, however, unfair it may seem,” Ms Irene Nakibungwe, the deputy spokesperson of the office of the DPP, said shortly after the verdict.
“Going forward, there is need to amend the law to give the DPP the right to appeal against lenient sentences,” she added.
The former minister was facing two counts of corruption.
Under count one, the particulars were that Kabafunzaki, in performance of his duties as Minister of State for Labour, directly solicited Shs15m as a gratification from Mr Hamid in exchange of clearing his name from allegations of sexual harassment by his former female employee.
It was alleged that of the Shs15m bribe the former minister had demanded, Shs10m was his, while Shs5m was for a section of media to run stories clearing his name.
Under count two, Kabafunzaki was accused of receiving a gratification of Shs5m from Mr Hamid for the same reasons of clearing his name in the media.
Justice Tibulya, in her analysis, held that the prosecution evidence adduced in court squarely placed the former minister at the scene of crime at Serena Hotel for purposes of receiving the said bribe.
The other pieces of evidence that the judge relied on included Kabafunzaki’s phones, which upon examination, revealed that they had used at Serena Hotel on that same day of the commission of the crime been at around 3pm.
Another piece of evidence was the CCTV footage of Serena that captured the handing over of the money to the former minister.
Also in her judgment, Justice Tibulya banned Kabafunzaki from holding public office for the next 10 years from the date of the verdict.
The court also ordered the police to arrest Kabafunzaki on sight so that he may come and serve his three years or pay the fine.
While passing her sentence, the judge noted with concern that if Kabafunzaki could solicit and receive a bribe and yet he was a minister and MP, then, he was erroneously placed in those positions and an embarrassment to President Museveni and the electorate of Rukiga County, who had voted him into the 10th Parliament.
The judge also in her verdict, ordered Kabafunzaki’s bail be forfeited to government since he has jumped bail.
