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Ateng was found guilty of illegally facilitating the fraudulent acquisition and sale of land belonging to the Uganda Railways Corporation (URC)
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Kampala
The Anti-Corruption Court has convicted Mr. Ateng Francis, a former Principal Assistant Secretary at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (Lira Zonal Office), on 11 counts including abuse of office, fraudulent procurement of a land title, forgery, uttering false documents, and conspiracy to commit a felony.
Ateng was found guilty of illegally facilitating the fraudulent acquisition and sale of land belonging to the Uganda Railways Corporation (URC). He has been remanded until November 7, 2025, when he will appear before the court for sentencing.
According to prosecution, in January 2018, while serving at the Ministry’s Lira Zonal Office, Ateng, together with others still at large, abused his authority by manipulating land records and issuing a special certificate of title for URC land. He allegedly arranged for the subdivision and allocation of the land, identified brokers, and sold it to private individuals without following government procedures for disposing of public property.
Court heard that Ateng and his accomplices forged the signature of the then Managing Director of Uganda Railways Corporation and used it to prepare and utter false documents that facilitated the illegal transfer and sale of the land. One of Ateng’s co-accused, Mr. Ocen Joseph, had earlier pleaded guilty to the same charges and was handed a two-year custodial sentence.
The conviction follows extensive investigations launched in 2022 on the directive of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who instructed the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to work jointly with the Criminal Investigations Directorate and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to probe corruption within Uganda Railways Corporation.
The investigations uncovered multiple cases of fraudulent land transactions involving public officials and private individuals attempting to illegally acquire URC land across various parts of the country.
Ateng’s conviction marks a significant milestone in the government’s ongoing efforts to combat corruption and recover public assets misappropriated through fraudulent land dealings.
Torch Media Africa
