Five staff members at Uganda Christian university have been pointed out in a procurement scam worth Shs 5 million.
The scam comes off after about 1,850 Kilograms of rice went missing from the UCU store. The tip-off to police came after one of the workers noticed that something was strange in the said rice delivery that was scheduled for July 23.
The officer in charge of the case, Keith Tumwine said that the driver who was meant to deliver 120 bags of rice with each containing 50 kgs received a phone call on the said date telling him to stop in Seeta where someone from UCU staff would come offload half of the delivery.
The driver Silaje Kavuma, was meant to deliver 120 kgs of rice to Ivan Isabirye the stores assistant at the university whose work was to receive, sign and confirm that he had received the rice.
On being arrested by police, Isabirye denied involvement but later confessed saying he was meant to get a share from the failed deal.
If the deal was successful, the university could have faced a financial loss of Shs 5,624,000 in food stuffs.
Isabirye was arrested but has since been released on bond after spending a night in police custody.
Ivan Isabirye and his accomplices were charged with theft, false accounting, embezzlement, false procurement theft, diversion of property, false accounting, embezzlement of property, false procurement, conspiracy to defraud and causing financial loss to the company (UCU).
The Deputy Vice Chancellor for Development and External Relations, MR David Mugawa said that a team has been put in place to investigate if this is an ongoing occurrence at the university.
Names of the suspects have been withheld because an internal investigation is being carried on.
