The Anti-Corruption Court has convicted and sentenced the former Principal Assistant Secretary at the Ministry of Lands, Lira Zonal Office, Ateng Francis, to three years in prison on eleven counts, including abuse of office, fraudulent procurement of a certificate of title, forgery, uttering false documents, and conspiracy to commit a felony.
Court heard that in January 2018, while serving at the Ministry of Lands’ Zonal Office in Lira District, Ateng, together with others still under prosecution, abused his authority with intent to defraud Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) of its land.
He facilitated the irregular issuance of a special certificate of title, initiated the subdivision and allocation of the land, identified brokers, and sold the property to private individuals without following the legal procedures for disposing of government assets.
Ateng and his co-accused also forged the signature of the then URC Managing Director, which they used on falsified documents to transfer and sell the land.
One of his co-accused, Ocen Joseph, had earlier pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.
The case arose from investigations launched following a 2022 directive by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, working jointly with the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), to probe corruption within Uganda Railways Corporation and prosecute all individuals involved in fraudulent acquisition of URC land.
