Detectives are investigating high ranking officials at Uganda’s Embassy in Nigeria, including Ambassador Nelson Ocheger, over money laundering, ChimpReports has learned. 

The investigation, which is being conducted on the orders of President Museveni, comes at a time Uganda is recovering from reports that Uganda’s consulate in Dubai had been turned into a casino. 

Police have since asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a range of files as part of the wider probe into acts of criminality at the Embassy in Nigeria. 

In a letter dated July 9, 2024, CID’s Deputy Director in charge of Economic Fraud and Anti-corruption, Jackson Tweheyo wrote to Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Vincent Bagiire to provide documentation to facilitate the investigations 

“The Directorate of Criminal Investigations in liaison with the State House Anti- Corruption Unit is conducting inquiries into alleged money laundering and embezzlement of funds at Uganda’s High Commission in Nigeria,” said Tweheyo. 

“The allegations include: 1. Money laundering using government funds meant for construction of the embassy premises. 2. Embezzlement of about Ugx 300,000,000 (Shillings three hundred million), part of the supplementary funding to close a wage shortfall in FY 2022/2023,” the letter further reads.

Tweheyo asked Bagiire to present the budget and work plans of the Mission for FY 2021/2022, 2022/2023 and 2023/2024; procurement file and payment documents for construction of the Mission premises; all requests for funding of the Mission premises’s construction; all releases and warrants to the Mission for FY 2021/2022, 2022/2023 and 2023/2024; bank statements of all Mission accounts for the period January 2022 to date; payment instructions issued by the High Commission to banks in the period November 2022 to June 2024; and the request and justification for supplementary funding of January, 2023.

fforts to reach Bagiire did not bear fruit as he was reported in a high level meeting.

However, dependable officials said the investigation followed reports that upon receiving financial allocations from  Kampala for the running of the Embassy, Ugandan diplomats in Nigeria would channel the money through a dubious private company’s bank account with the view of earning interest off it. 

Black market deals

Documents seen by this investigative website show that on August 31, 2023, the accounting officer at the Embassy, Amb Alfred Namu and financial attache, Nicholas Kanamwangi, requested Stanbic Bank Abuja to transfer a staggering $1m (Shs 3.7bn) from the embassy account to Golden Edge Blocks Distribution Co Ltd. 

The purpose was ‘transfer of project funds to Naira project account.’

 The beneficiary address was Plot 2249 Addis Ababa Crescent Wuse, Zone 4 Abuja.”

A quick search on the internet shows Golden Edge Blocks Distribution Co Ltd. was incorporated in Abuja in 2017. The company does not have a digital footprint.

Officials said “that company  (Golden Edge Blocks Distribution Co Ltd) has never rendered any service to our Mission in Abuja. It is not known to the Ugandan government. Therefore there is no justification for transferring money from the Embassy to that company’s account.”

An official further clarified: “To simplify this issue for you, let’s use the example of Uganda. The dollar is now at Shs 3,700. So, if you exchange $1m, you get Shs 3.7bn. But if you have $1m, you can negotiate with forex dealers for a better rate of about Shs 3,750 for a dollar and get Shs 3,750,000,000. You would instantly make Shs 50m. That’s what the diplomats in Nigeria were reportedly doing.” 

A respectable diplomat who preferred anonymity to speak freely, said “The revelations were shocking. For diplomats to be reported in money laundering deals with faceless companies in Nigeria is really disturbing.” 

Officials suspect the transactions could not have happened without the knowledge of Amb Nelson Ocheger.

Ocheger’s known mobile phone was unreachable when we posted this article.

However, we have learned that as investigators closed in on Ugandan diplomats in Nigeria, Ocheger directed Stanbic Bank Abuja to “withdraw the signatures of Mr Eriya Tusubira from the High Commission Accounts and to no longer recognise him as the accounting officer.”

In his letter dated August 31, 2024, Ocheger emphasised that “Mr Eriya Tusubira is no longer the accounting officer at the HIgh Commission and should not be recognised as such.” 

Detectives say the authority to withdraw the powers of the accounting officer lies in the hands of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance – not Ocheger.

During the course of the investigation, detectives will establish whether habit of money laundering has been going on for years at the Ugandan embassy in Nigeria. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently directed the Consul General of Uganda in Dubai,  United Arab Emirates (UAE), Amb Henry Mayega, to return to Uganda to explain circumstances under which the consulate was turned into a casino.

The media recently reported that the External Security Organisation (ESO) was investigating circumstances under which privately procured gambling machines shipped under diplomatic cover between Russia and the Middle East, ended up being operated at Uganda’s Consulate building in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

Mayega reportedly hid the casino machines at one of the floors of the Consulate in Dubai. The machines reportedly belonged to Foreign Affairs Minister, Gen Jeje Odongo, a claim he vehemently denied.

By ChimpReports