Wodero Francis (in blue suit) in the dock
The Anti-Corruption Court has remanded a Uganda Revenue Authority staff on charges of abuse of office that led to revenue loss to the government.
The prosecution, led by Atusimiire Hilda and Ndagire Patricia, informed the court that Wodero Francis, aged 37, uplifted the Value Added Tax amounting to UGX 301,100,831/=.
“On the 29th of December 2021, Wodero, while employed as a Tax Office at URA, uplifted VAT in favour of Service and Computer Industries (U) Ltd for August 2014 to April 2015, claiming the assessment to take care of the credit notes, whereas there were none,” Atusimiire told the court.
The prosecution also informed the court that Wodero skipped bond on 8th June 2024 and was arrested at 9:00 PM on 24th June 2024.
The accused, Wodero, denied the charges against him and applied for bail. His lawyer, Counsel Herbert Kidiya, presented two sureties to Her Worship Asiimwe Esther.
After perusing the documents for the sureties of the accused, the prosecution prayed to the court to deny Wodero bail on grounds that he did not present substantial sureties, which Her Worship Asiimwe concurred with.
However, the court found Biara Emmanuel, an employee at the Ministry of Water, a substantial surety.
“The accused shall report back to court for the mention of the case and application of bail. You are required to present one substantial surety since you already have one. You are remanded to a government prison until 3rd July 2024,” Her Worship Asiimwe ruled.
