Captain Mukula (circled) with some of his supporters in court. Photo by Abubaker Lubowa
By Anthony Wesaka
Posted Wednesday, March 13 2013 at 10:30
Posted Wednesday, March 13 2013 at 10:30
The four-year jail term that was handed to former state minister for health Mike Mukula for embezzling Shs210 million from the Gavi Fund, has been overturned.Consequently, the Soroti Municipality MP who has spent over one month in Luzira prison, is a free man.Justice David Wangutusi of the Anti-Corruption Court Wednesday ruled that trial Chief magistrate Irene Akankwasa, who sent Capt. Mukula to prison did not scrutinise the evidence well.Setting the sentence aside, Justice Wangutusi said the charge was not proved to the degree of certainty.Capt. Mukula challenged his conviction and sentence a month ago.On January 18, court found Capt. Mukula guilty of embezzling Shs210 million from the Gavi account.During the appeal hearing last month, Capt. Mukula’s lawyers argued that he was wrongly convicted because ministers are not government employees.The lawyers reasoned that Ms Akankwasa erred when she believed prosecution without hearing the accused’s side of the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment