Appeared in The New Vision on 26 Apr 2011


THE Constitutional Court has directed the Anti-Corruption Court to try former National Forest Authority (NFA) executive director Damian Akankwasa over a sh2b loss.

"The petitioner was properly charged in our view. We dismiss this application with costs. The record of the lower court is returned with the direction that the trial magistrate should proceed with the trial of the applicant/petitioner forthwith," the court ruled yesterday. The court also dismissed Akankwasa’s application in which he had sought to stop the IGG from prosecuting him for acquiring illicit wealth.

It is alleged that Akankwasa owns a guest house at Plot 11 on St. Balikuddembe Road in Nagulu, a Kampala suburb, valued at over sh580m.

The property is said to be disproportionate to his past and current known sources of income and assets.

Akankwasa had petitioned the court, seeking to block the IGG from prosecuting him, arguing that prosecuting him in the Anti-Corruption Court for offences allegedly committed before the enactment of the Anti-Corruption Act was unconstitutional.

The IGG charged him with causing financial loss under the Anti-Corruption Act.

It was alleged that between August 2007 and February 2008 Akankwasa unlawfully allocated 100,000 cubic metres of round wood at Katuugo Central Forest Reserve to Nile Plywood for harvest at a rate of sh62,500, instead of the set price of sh82,500 per cubic metre. This led to the the sh2b loss.