The Court of appeal has convicted has on Monday sentenced to seven years, Kenneth Kaawe the Africell Accountant Manager of Western and Southwestern Uganda the for the embezzlement of USD 50000(sh 186million) of Bank of Africa (UBA) in 2009.
Justice Catherine Bamugemerire of the Anti-Corruption on May 17th, 2011 found Kaawe guilty of embezzlement of USD 50,000 from his employer, United Bank of Africa where he was working as the Head of Central Cash.
Three justices, Stephen Musota, Geoffrey Kiryabwire, and Percy Tuhaise, have maintained Kaawe’s conviction and sentence citing that the lower court was right in its findings.
Although, the justices blamed the lower court for failure to consider the twenty-five days Kaawe had spent on remand while sentencing him to eight years which makes it illegal.
The justices noted that the constitution requires that the period spent on remand must abide in mind when imposing a custodial sentence which was not done by the trial judge.
Court has now reduced Kaawe’s sentence for embezzlement from eight years to seven years, 11 months and five days.
The court ruled that Kaawe abused the trust put in him by his employer who headhunted him and offered him a job and the offense for which he was indicted attracts a sentence not exceeding fourteen years, however, a sentence of eight-year imprisonment is appropriate.
Court also noted that the delivery note and Cash in Transit forms were all direct evidence of the movement and proof that Kaawe received and acknowledged receipt of the money.
