The Anti-Corruption Court has remanded 15 senior officials from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to Luzira prison over a multi-billion-shilling fraud case.

The group was on Wednesday grilled at the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) headquarters and later detained over allegations of involvement in a massive chimpanzee and gorilla permit fraud scheme.

Appearing before the Anti-Corruption Court, the officials were charged with corruption and causing financial loss amounting to more than Shs 9.3 billion. The fraud is reported to have happened between 2020 and 2023.

According to investigators, the accused manipulated the GoChimp digital permit system, generating over 8,400 invalid permits for chimpanzee and gorilla tracking activities, resulting in huge financial losses to the government.

Among the suspects are ICT Manager Alfred Emmanuel Ndikusooka, Robert Maani (Senior Warden Accounts), Jimmy Mugisa (Director of Finance and Administration), Gilbert Mwesigwa (Warden Software Developer), Leslie Muhindo (former Head of Reservations), and Stephen Sanya Masaba (Director of Tourism and Business Development), among others.

According to investigators, the accused manipulated the GoChimp digital permit system, generating over 8,400 invalid permits for chimpanzee and gorilla tracking activities. The fake permits allegedly granted unauthorized access to several protected areas including Nyakagezi, Ruhija, Nkuringo, Rushaga, Buhoma, Kyambura, and Kanyanchu, leading to losses exceeding Shs 8.7 billion.

Recently, UWA dismissed four employees following an internal investigation into permit-related fraud — a move that paved the way for the broader criminal inquiry now underway.

Developing story…

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