Fraud of Shs 55m Emyooga funds under investigation in Soroti City
SOROTI – The fraud of Emyooga funds worth Shs 55m is currently under investigation in Soroti City.
This follows an incident in which the District Commercial Officer, Joy Apolot was accused of reportedly conniving with one Moses Okiring Ebaku, currently held at Soroti Central Police Station to steal Emyooga funds worth Shs 55 million from Finance Trust Bank, Soroti branch.
The money belongs to Gweri County Women Entrepreneurs, Gweri Boda-Boda Operators and Gweri Taxi Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (SACCO).
According to the Chairperson, Boda-Boda Operators SACCO, Lazarus Engeu, Okiring stole Shs 7.4m from Gweri County Women Entrepreneurs SACCO, Shs 28m from Gweri Taxi Operators SACCO, Shs 17m from Gweri Boda-boda Operators SACCO and Shs 14m from Abelet Women Entrepreneur Association under Gweri County Women Entrepreneur SACCO.
The suspected fraudster, Moses Okiring Ebaku who hails from Abelet village, Onyamai parish, Gweri sub-county in Soroti District, withdrew money from three bank accounts, on different dates.
Bank statements from Finance Trust Bank indicate that the money was withdrawn on 14th, 15th, 17th, 21, 29th of May, 2021 respectively.
https://thecooperator.news/more-than-shs1-billion-emyooga-money-unspent/
However, the money didn’t reach the SACCO members and instead ended up in Okiring’s pocket.
Samuel Opolot, a member of Gweri Taxi Operators Savings and Credit Cooperative Society, revealed that Okiring withdrew a total of Shs 28m from their bank account after he duped the bank officials to believe that the group had agreed to change the signatories to the bank accounts.
“Before the incident, Okiror together with the Finance Trust Bank staff and the Soroti District Commercial Officer duped all group members of the boda-boda association to photocopy each 10 copies of their national identity cards and sign,” he added.
However, according to Abraham Ekwaru, the Soroti District Communications Officer, Joy Apolot, the District Commercial Officer, didn’t involve herself in any sort of fraud as perpetrated and circulated by media houses and on social media platforms.
According to him, it’s very wrong for people to implicate someone in fraud without carrying out proper investigations to ascertain the facts of the matter.
“Upon interrogation by the police attached to the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) at Soroti Central Police, the alleged fraudster, Moses Okiring admitted to having used his own knowledge to get the money alone without the involvement of the Commercial Officer as alleged,” said Ekwaru.
Ekwaru also commended the Soroti Resident City Commissioner and other security officers for their efforts in arresting the suspect.
The Finance Trust Bank Manager Soroti Branch, Isaac Isanga, said the bank authorized Okiring to withdraw Shs 7.4 million after he presented a recommendation letter from the District Commercial Officer which is a key requirement for the disbursement of Emyooga funds to various SACCOs.
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