Four of the 42 beneficiaries of the Shs 6 billion ‘presidential handshake’ from Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) struggled to explain their roles in the Heritage Oil and Gas arbitration case.
Mathew Mugabi, the former URA Litigation manager, Samuel Kahima, the former acting manager Rulings and Interpretations, Moses Kibumba, the former Chief Assessor and former Natural Resource supervisor Annet Bazalilaki appeared before the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) chaired by Bugweri County MP, Abdu Katuntu, which is investigating the oil cash bonuses.
Evidence before the committee shows that Mugabi and Kahima pocketed Shs 121 million each while Kibumba and Bazalilaki received Shs 73 million and Shs 56 million respectively.
During the meeting, the Committee chairperson Katuntu tasked the four officials to explain the ‘extraordinary’ roles they played in the oil arbitration case to warrant a special reward from the president.
Mugabi, who travelled to London more than five times, said his role was to provide background information on how they argued the case in the Arbitration Tribunal and High court in Uganda.
“The filing of this pleading, the drafting of this pleading, the research that was involved in coming up with sound pleading throughout the entire process – right from the tribunal stage, High court stage to the filing of submissions; to doing research – which involved a lot of issues that had no precedence as far as they were concerned; meetings with the different witnesses to interview them. Going over and above witnesses to find things that we did not know before, in my view amounted to a lot of effort on our part”, Mugabi submitted.
Busiro East MP, Medard Ssegona asked Mugabi the number of witnesses URA presented for the case. Mugabi said he couldn’t remember the exact number, but only said they were more than two witnesses.
“You’re the one who brought up the issue that you interviewed witnesses; we are asking who were these witnesses?” Katuntu asked.
“My reference to interviewing witnesses was far as the proceedings before the tribunal was concerned. That is the reference I made and any answer beyond that, Mr chairman I want to give you facts as they are. I don’t want [the committee] to speculate…The number of witnesses was more than two”, he answered.
This response drew angry reactions from Ssegona and Katuntu who wondered how URA officials expect the committee to believe their claims to have played an extraordinary role if they are giving such half answers.
“If you don’t remember all those things, how do you want me to believe that you did an extraordinary job to justify retention on job, two; an extra reward?”, Ssegona said.
On his part, Kahima said he handled objections to the case since it was leaning toward enforcement measures. Kahima also said he was the only member of the team who had practiced under the income tax decree and was there to support the arbitration team by conceptualizing the matter.
He however, agreed with the Katuntu that even with this, he would ordinarily be performing his job.
Kibumba, the former URA chief assessor sent the probe committee into pro-longed laughter when he said that the Heritage Oil and Gas Company case was extraordinary since it generated abnormal heat and workload.
“The case was extraordinary that you never had the normal time to assess; you never had the normal time to do the job. So you had to think faster, you had to do things around the clock and we were put on 24-hour call, 24-hours call! And they provided cars at Crested Towers to allow us to move and move”, he said.
Bazairaki said her role in the oil arbitration case was to conduct research on the matter from the internet. The probe committee resumes on Wednesday with submissions from other beneficiaries from the presidential handshake from URA.
At least 42 government officials benefited from the presidential handshake for their role on the arbitration. The tax dispute arose after Heritage sold its interests in Uganda’s oil to Tullow Oil.