{UAH} Kasango is a slippery man - lawyer-this man is a thief.protected by the regime
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Kasango is a slippery man - lawyer
Mr Christopher Obey, the former principal accountant in the Ministry of Public Service, appears before the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee yesterday. PHOTO BY FAISWAL KASIRYE
Posted Thursday, June 25 2015 at 01:00
Parliament- A city lawyer, who asked colleague Bob Kasango to help him get Shs15.4 billion from government, yesterday said he was forced to turn to the "devil" because this was the only way his clients would get what they were owed.
Mr John Matovu, a sole partner of Matovu and Matovu Advocates, one of the firms named in the pension scam, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that securing payment would be problematic since he is considered to be an Opposition-leaning lawyer, having represented former FDC leader Kizza Besigye in a treason case.
After obtaining a court order directing government to pay the 6,339 pensioners, Mr Matovu said: "I was advised to look for Mr fixer, Bob Kasango. I had heard several scams about him but I had to go to the devil to help me because I needed the money."
"I cautioned him several times that 'you cheated the Queen Mother of Tooro but you are the only person who can collect the money for me'. I cautioned him not to cheat me and I engaged him in an agreement," he added.
Despite this agreement, Mr Kasango back-tracked on his word, forcing Mr Matovu to turn to court where he obtained a warrant of arrest last year against his colleague whom he kept describing as "a broke man"; "a thief".
He said Mr Kasango was supposed to help him collect professional fees of 12 per cent (Shs3.42 billion) of the total figure of Shs28 billion. For this help, they agreed that Kasango would be paid 1 per cent of the collected amount with 2 per cent going to unnamed third parties.
Mr Matovu also told the committee that he received Shs1.3 billion from Kasango who he has since dragged to Commercial Court demanding payment of Shs12 billion.
"Kasango is a slippery man. I filed a summary suit in Commercial Court and as I speak, I have an arrest warrant for him which I obtained in October last year. I went to police but they have not helped me," he said.
"The bill of costs (Shs3.9b) was calculated under the table and I did not instruct Kasango to collect this money on my behalf. He created a different court order, which allowed him present and obtain two certificates of costs for two counsels. He forged documents to get this money from the government and he did all this behind my back."
"The court orders he used to obtain the money from government were fake. The only agreement I signed with the pensioners was talking about 12 per cent, not 30 per cent. I don't know where Kasango got another agreement with my clients. He manipulated documents from court. He collected my money and ate it and collected government money and also ate it," the lawyer added.
Still on the pension scam, MPs told Mr Christopher Obey, the former principal accountant in the Ministry of Public Service, that he created the 2,434 ghost pensioners, whom he paid Shs165 billion.
Mr Obey had conceded that he received the files from the Pension Registry but never named who allegedly sent him the files for the ghost pensioners.
"The buck stops with you Mr Obey. There is no way non-existent files can be audited as you claim.
They were originated by you and you cannot deny this. You disregarded the verification committee report which had genuine pensioners and created ghosts who took public funds," PAC chairperson, Ms Alice Alaso said.
Mr Obey said the verification committee report was not conclusive and insisted that he saw the files, worked on them and returned them to the registry.
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