Kutesa’s dodgy deals

In a twist of events, however, Kutesa, Nasasira and Rukutana resigned over the Chogm allegations. They claimed they had stepped aside to allow the case to go on without their interference. The case collapsed and they were cleared.

The following year, Kutesa was also cleared of the oil bribery allegations. Museveni reappointed him into Cabinet.

Kutesa is one of Uganda’s longest serving Members of Parliament. He defeated President Museveni in 1980 parliamentary elections to represent Mbarara North Constituency in parliament. Between 1985 and 86, he served as Attorney General and was part of the government team that negotiated with Museveni’s rebel group at the Nairobi peace talks.

He was also part of the Constituent Assembly in 1994 and has represented Mawogola County since 2001.

Museveni is also unlikely to take action on Kutesa because he has generally been slow in taking such action in recent years. When the Minister of State for Labour, Herbert Kabafunzaki, was netted in an alleged bribery scandal, Museveni suspended him when most people expected him to be fired. Another minster, Ronald Kibuule of Water Resources was also expected to be disciplined for entering parliament illegally with a gun, but Museveni has not acted. In the past, Museveni has publicly `forgiven’ his brother, Gen. Caleb Akandanwaho aka Salim Saleh for taking a bribe. Based on these precedents, it is not clear how Museveni will deal with the latest Kutesa bribe case. If he does not act, however, parliament might act against Kutesa.

Kutesa’s past corruption cases

• 2017:  The leaked so-called Paradise Papers reveal that Kutesa in 2012 hired Appleby, a company renowned for creating offshore account for the rich and powerful, to form a company for him in the tax haven of Seychelles in an attempt to his money and dodge taxes.
• 1993: Kutesa’s first publicly known corruption deal. In 1993, when ground handling at Entebbe International Airport was privatized, a company called Effortes, a subsidiary of Caleb International owned by President Museveni’s brother, Caleb Akandwanaho aka Salim Saleh and Global Airlink owned by Kutesa unfairly took 40% according to a parliament investigation.
• 1995: Kutesa, as board chairman, used an accounting firm close to him to undervalue the ENHAS shares, which he later sold to himself and Salim Saleh cheaply. Saleh acquired 45% shares for $3.75 million and sold them at $9.45 million. Kutesa was the minister of state for Investment and Planning.
• 1998: A parliamentary committee investigating the privatisation of Uganda Airlines Corporation concludes that it had been “manipulated and taken advantage of by Kutesa and “a few politically powerful people who sacrifice the people’s interests.”
• 1999: Parliament censures Kutesa.
• 2001: President Museveni re-appointed him after elections because he allegedly financed that election with $500,000.
• 1997: During privatization of 80% of Sheraton Hotel, Kutesa, then minister for Investment and Planning is named by a parliamentary committee for soliciting a bribe of between $2-6 million together with Mayanja Nkanji, who was Justice Minister, Mathew Rukikaire, who was the minister of state for privatization and Salim Saleh. The IGG found that three ministers had influenced the award.
• 2001: Kutesa is named among members of President Museveni’s campaign task force that was fronting Lithotec, a South African company to bag a tender to supply ballot papers. The others were his nephew, Sam Rwakoojo, who is the Secretary to the Electoral Commission and Enos Tumusiime, a high-flying city lawyer. IGG investigations revealed that Lithotec’s competitor—Skipco Property Limited– had been wrongly disqualified from the tender and the contract was cancelled. Nevertheless, Lithotec got the contract to supply ballots for the presidential elections.
• 2001 November: Lithotec gets another contract to supply ballots for the local government elections. The government “loses” US$ 1 million in deal.
• 2009: Kutesa is mentioned in elections related deal worth $15 million. A US firm which had been pre-qualified for the deal attributed suspension of the award to competing interests of presidential insiders. Kutesa was connected to a competing firm from Bangladesh.
• 2005: Kutesa is named in a deal described by Bright Rwamirama, who at the time was the privatisation committee chairman, as “outright robbery”. The deal involved the privatisation of Uganda Diary Cooperation Ltd (UDCL).  While the entity was valued at $9 million with an annual turnover of $12 million, President Museveni blocked a process by the privatisation unit to have the entity’s 70 % sold to the best bidder, and instead decided to offer it to a Malaysian company called Malee Sampran PCL for three years at a nominal fee of $ 1. It emerged that Malee was to incorporate a company named Pan African Foods Ltd (PAFL), which would take over DCL. It later emerged that Malee was a smokescreen for PAFL, which despite being unregistered was connected to Kutesa.
• 2000: Kutesa mentioned in the deal to procure a technology, called an Intelligent Network Monitoring/verification System (INMS), estimated to cost the Ugandan taxpayer about Shs100 billion.
• 2012: Kutesa, through his son-in-law, Albert Muganga, was cited in a fight to secure a deal for the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway for the Chinese company called CCECC.
• 2012: Kutesa is mentioned in the deals surrounding the construction of Karuma and Isimba power dams.
• 2014: He is accused of corruption in a battle over his candidature for UN General Assembly presidency in 2014.  More than 9,000 people signed an online petition urging the U.S. to block him. Despite the campaign, Kutesa was elected.