The State House Anti-Corruption and Criminal Investigations Department arrested Geraldine Ssali Busuulwa, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Industries, and Cooperatives, on Thursday afternoon.
Ssali faces charges of Conspiracy to Defraud and Causing Financial Loss. She is scheduled to appear in court tomorrow for plea bargaining.
Ssali’s arrest is linked to the mismanagement of funds intended for the compensation of cooperative societies. The Shs164 billion allocated for selected cooperatives was allegedly misappropriated, with substantial sums reportedly being shared by politicians. A report by the Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Tourism, and Industry implicated Ssali, questioning the unfair distribution of funds to non-claimants.
The commitee accused Ssali found Ssali personally liable for the dubious inflation of the estimated contract price without any formal or legal justification.
The committee called on the Secretary to the Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi, to relieve Ssali of her duties for causing financial loss to the government. On October last year, Ggoobi, in a letter to the Ministry of Trade and Cooperatives, referenced the investigation report into the utilization of supplementary funds for FY 2021-2022, which recommended the removal of Ssali as an Accounting Officer under Section 11(2) c of the Public Finance Management Act 2015.
Ssali was reinstated by President Yoweri Museveni.
Ssali joins a group of MPs, including Michael Mawanda Maranga, Mudiimi Wamakuyu, Paul Akamba, lawyer Julius Kirya Taitankonko, and Leonard Kavundira, a Ministry of Trade official, who were earlier charged with diverting over UGX3.4 billion meant for war loss compensation to Buyaka Growers Cooperative Society.
