Museveni Gives Bassajja Another Shs. 13b in Taxes.

(From The Monitor (Uganda) - AAGM)

Byline: Andrew M. Mwenda & Alex B. Atuhaire

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has given Hassan Basajjabalaba another Shs13.4 billion. Daily Monitor can exclusively reveal that Bank of Uganda paid the money to the Uganda Revenue Authority on three separate cheques on November 4, 2005.

According to a Ministry of Finance internal memo for November 7, 2005, it is President Museveni who directed the ministry to pay Basajjabalaba's taxes.

The memo indicates that the money was part of a local Value Added Tax (VAT) exemption towards the construction of a teaching hospital for Kampala International University's western campus based at Ishaka, Bushenyi. Basajjabalaba owns KIU.

Documents obtained by Daily Monitor show that the Ministry of Finance approved Basajjabalaba's pay on November 8, 2005. The approval is contained in a letter by Ms Betty Kasimbazi, the under secretary for finance and administration in the Ministry of Finance. "Please expedite the above actions so that a Warrant Request is raised, cash release provided for before we can process the necessary payments."

The Ministry of Finance memo claims that the Shs13.4 billion was an assessment by URA. However, Daily Monitor has reliably learnt from a highly placed URA sources that the tax body never did the assessment. On the contrary, it is the ministry …