{"id":56777,"date":"2023-10-07T14:18:55","date_gmt":"2023-10-07T14:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal"},"modified":"2023-10-07T14:28:15","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T14:28:15","slug":"govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal","title":{"rendered":"Govt gives Auditor General 30 days to probe UWA scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Government has finally broken its silence on the gorilla permits\u2019 fraud scandal, directing the Auditor General to carry out a forensic audit of the Uganda Wildlife Authority\u2019s books.<\/b><\/p>\n

Over the past week, news reports about the scam have left the country shocked, with many taking to social media to demand government action.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

During a press briefing at the government\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy 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),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The fraud<\/b><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The internal audit reportedly revealed that gorilla tracking permits were recycled between clients and invoices tampered with.<\/p>\n

Col Butime said the crime has perpetrated over several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The minister said the internal inquiry \u201cgenerated 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\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Col Butime said 14 staff members have been suspended as police investigations proceed.<\/p>\n

What they say<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking at the same briefing, the UWA executive director, Mr Sam Mwandha, confirmed receiving earlier reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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…,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa directed MPs to cease all debates on the saga, warning they may compromise ongoing investigations.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonourable 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,\u201d Mr Tayebwa said.<\/p>\n

Tour association says<\/b><\/p>\n

Yesterday, the Association of Uganda Tour Operators (AUTO) said they were saddened by the naming of tour companies as accomplices in the crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cAUTO doesn\u2019t 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,\u201d the associated said in a statement.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Government has finally broken its silence on the gorilla permits\u2019 fraud scandal, directing the Auditor General to carry out a forensic audit of the Uganda Wildlife Authority\u2019s 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. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":56775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-56777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nGovt gives Auditor General 30 days to probe UWA scandal - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Government has finally broken its silence on the gorilla permits\u2019 fraud scandal, directing the Auditor General to car ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Govt gives Auditor General 30 days to probe UWA scandal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Government has finally broken its silence on the gorilla permits\u2019 fraud scandal, directing the Auditor General to car ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-07T14:18:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-07T14:28:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/10\/sm_1696676235.806187.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Govt gives Auditor General 30 days to probe UWA scandal\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-07T14:18:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-07T14:28:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal\"},\"wordCount\":762,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/10\/sm_1696676235.806187.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-gives-auditor-general-30-days-to-probe-uwa-scandal\",\"name\":\"Govt gives Auditor General 30 days to probe UWA scandal - 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