Africa-Press – Uganda. Government has finally broken its silence on the gorilla permits’ fraud scandal, directing the Auditor General to carry out a forensic audit of the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s books.
Over the past week, news reports about the scam have left the country shocked, with many taking to social media to demand government action.
Auditor General John Muwanga and his team have been given 30 days to find out how the scam took place, flush out whoever was responsible and report to the Tourism and Wildlife ministry.
During a press briefing at the government’s Media Centre, Col (rtd) Tom Butime, the Tourism minister, said his ministry was greatly concerned by the alleged fraud and the negative publicity it has generated.
“My ministry has further requested the Office of the Auditor General to undertake a comprehensive forensic audit covering the period between July 2020 and September 2023. The audit will cover gorilla and chimpanzee bookings at Bwindi, Mgahinga and Kibale National Parks as well as Kyambura Gorge (Queen Elizabeth National Park),” he said.
Mr Butime said the report will help understand the magnitude of the crime and the people involved, and gathering forensic evidence to be presented in court for prosecution.
The fraud
Some details of how the scam took place were exposed in an August 28 UWA internal audit report between June and August, which established about Shs500 million in those months alone.
Much more is feared to have been lost. For example, in March 2022, a total of 154 permits were reportedly fraudulently sold causing a loss of Shs401 million. Also, in April, more than 60 permits were also fraudulently sold.
The internal audit reportedly revealed that gorilla tracking permits were recycled between clients and invoices tampered with.
Col Butime said the crime has perpetrated over several years.
“The fraud has been creeping and the [UWA] executive director has been sending teams of investigators upcountry, but some of the staff have been coming back without any information. Fortunately, recently when some people were sent, they detected the fraud and came up with a credible report, which the ED used to commission an internal audit which finally unearthed fraud,” he said.
The minister said the internal inquiry “generated important insights and preliminary findings pointing to possible fraud orchestrated by some staff from the departments of Reservations, Finance and Information Technology at head office, with possible connivance of some field staff”.
He said tour operators, who will be found to have colluded with UWA staff to defraud the country will be deregistered, their licences withdrawn and prosecuted to recover lost monies. He also warned that a similar punishment awaits all implicated UWA employees.
Col Butime said 14 staff members have been suspended as police investigations proceed.
What they say
Speaking at the same briefing, the UWA executive director, Mr Sam Mwandha, confirmed receiving earlier reports.
“You know, it is one thing to tell me that there are thieves on my compound, but another thing to provide me with details that will enable me arrest the thief…,” he said.
“On the 154 permits and the 64, indeed an audit was done. We sent out investigators and they came with a report. If you are going to deny somebody a job, you have to have hard facts, and these facts were missing until now. However, now that we have these facts, there is no reason why we cannot act,” he added.
Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa directed MPs to cease all debates on the saga, warning they may compromise ongoing investigations.
His directive came after State minister for Tourism, Mr Martin Mugarra Bahinduka, presented a preliminary statement on what happened and what is being done by the ministry.
“Honourable colleagues, I am not allowing any debate on this statement because the issue is already under investigation. You know, when investigations are ongoing and you make a statement it may jeopardise the other processes,” Mr Tayebwa said.
Tour association says
Yesterday, the Association of Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO) said they were saddened by the naming of tour companies as accomplices in the crime.
“AUTO doesn’t condone such illegal and dishonest acts. Our strict code of conduct holds our members to very high integrity standards. We would like to call for a full and quick investigation into the matter; even beyond gorilla permits, to include chimpanzee tracking permits and park entry fees, where we understand the racket has also been selling permits reserved for East African residents to foreign non-residents,” the associated said in a statement.
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