GULU, CITY: Nixon Komakech Atemo, the Gulu City Principal Commercial Officer has been rearrested, charged, and remanded to Gulu Central Prison over the forgery of a false PDM document leading to the loss of 8 Million Shillings.
Atemo was rearrested on Tuesday May 09, and arraigned in court where he was charged with giving false information contrary to section 115(a) of the Penal Code Act Cap 120.
While appearing before the Gulu Chief Magistrate Court, Said Barigye, Atemo denied the charge, saying ‘it is not true.’
The state prosecutor Sarah Amony prayed to the Court that the accused be remanded to give time for more investigation into the case.
However, an investigation done by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit states that Atemo forged documents for meeting and training members of the Parish Development Module (PDM) Saving and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs) in 32 wards in Gulu City, something that he never did.
This investigation came after the Anti-Corruption Unit received several complaints about how PDM is being implemented in the area. The investigation shows that Atemo led to the loss of 8,000,000 UGX purported to have been spent for training and sensitization.
On the 30th of March Atemo was arrested for falsifying accountability of funds meant for conducting training of town agents on PDM activities and buying furniture and equipment but when the Anti-Corruption Unit pressed hard, it led to the recovery of 70million instantly and another 23million shillings was refunded on 20th April.
One of the legal team of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit while speaking to journalists at Gulu High Court Circuit off record stated that “the money may not be a lot but the impact of his action is more serious than the money.”
Adding that “such action is across the country and it is why PDM funds for the SACCOs are stacked in the bank up to now because people are not trained.”
“We started the investigation and the Principal Commercial Officer was implicated in one of the allegations he claimed to have trained and given sanitization to town agents regarding PDM and how it is going to work yet he did not do anything. My investigation found out that the people didn’t know that this money was sent out and they were supposed to be trained and that is why today he is in court,” Natasha Marriam, Public Relations Officer Anti-Corruption State House, said in her comment.
Atemo has been remanded at Gulu Main prison till May 26th when shall be brought in court.
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