Top officials of Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) were on Tuesday grilled by parliament’s Committee on Commissions, State Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) over the disappearance of about 9000 litres of fuel that had been seized and withheld at one of its points.
The fuel belonged to Shell and was on transit to neighbouring countries when it was seized some time back by URA officials in Malaba border post on the Uganda-Kenya border.
The officials led by URA Commissioner Doris Akol failed to explain how the fuel disappeared from custody and only blamed it on the UPDF officer who they said was sent back to the army after the disappearance of the fuel he was guarding.
Shell is demanding compensation in billions of shillings for the loss of its fuel under URA watch. The MPs were bitter that URA was careless and now wants Ugandan taxpayers to pay for the lost fuel.
COSASE Chairperson Mubarak Munyagwa said URA officials were involved in the dubious deal. He added: “People are losing business to errant Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) officials. This is a tip of the iceberg. To help tax payers, we must investigate this.”
