KAMPALA – Intelligence information reaching this publication indicates that a senior officer at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development sitting at Amber House in Kampala is currently detained for allegedly orchestrating the move to fleece a total of USD 50m from a Serbian investor.
Spero Byokunda, the Head of Petroleum Quality Assurance at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development is currently detained at CPS under reference No- ACU GEF 176/23 by the Statehouse Anti-corruption unit.
It is alleged that on the 22nd of August this year, Byokunda and others still at large, arranged a meeting with a Serbian investor who wanted to undertake Energy-related projects at Amber house inside the Ministry’s Boardroom but he never attended. He allegedly instructed George Byomugabe to chair the meeting, who introduced himself as the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development in disguise.
After this meeting, Byokunda demanded the last installment from the investor who later became suspicious and sought guidance from higher authorities in government. The investor was then advised not to pay until the authorities became aware of the people he was dealing with.
A counterintelligence trap was then laid by state intelligence detectives using the investor and pledged to pay them USD 20m. This USD 20m was supposedly meant to be picked up from the hotel where the said investor was residing.
However, upon learning that it was a trap, Byokunda and his colleagues declined to go and pick up the money for fear of being apprehended. This sparked off an intense investigation until now, the involved people are being netted one by one.
How the arrests were conducted
After receiving intel, the Statehouse Anti-corruption team took up the matter very confidentially and officers at the Ministry of Energy were seen being taken one by one until the big fish was in their hands.
Our source at Amber House said these arrests began when the Secretary to the Ministry of Energy together with Byokunda’s secretary were taken in for questioning. The source added that according to CCTV cameras, these two were directly involved in preparing the meeting venue at the Ministry’s Boardroom. After the interrogation where they narrated the whole ordeal behind the said meeting, they were later released.
Following this interrogation, Byomugabe would then be arrested on Thursday last week from at Amber House. Byomugabe was first taken to CPS in Kampala, then later to Wandegeya Police station for more interrogation and he was later released on Police bond after spending 5 days in jail.
This publication has learned that it was from then that state detectives discovered other people who were involved. This later led to the arrest of two more people; John Bosco Mugisha aka Boyzon, a Personal Assistant to Hon. Chris Baryomunsi who is the Minister of ICT and National guidance, and finally Spero Byokunda.
From this arrest, two more members of the gang working both in government and other private businesses were mentioned and subsequently arrested. The two are still inside police coolers.
Mr. Byokunda has been severally involved in corruption scandals. It is alleged that while working with the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), he was dismissed for having been involved in fraudulent transactions. Again, at the Ministry of Energy where he’s currently deployed, he was earlier this year in April ordered by the IGG to refund UGX 70159400 (Ref: New Vision 5th April 2023, page 17). According to reliable information regarding this issue, he has not refunded the said amount to the treasury.