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Daniel Mariam Tarazi, a Palestinian national, has been released on bail after being charged with conspiracy to defraud Absa Bank, resulting in a financial loss of $267,500, equivalent to 1 billion Ugandan shillings.
On February 29, 2024, Principal Grade One Magistrate Christopher Opit, presiding over the Nakasero-based Anti-Corruption Court, granted Tarazi bail upon the presentation of two substantial sureties.
Tarazi, aged 43 and a resident of Muyenga in Makindye Division, Kampala, was required to pay a cash bail of 15 million shillings. Additionally, his sureties, Dr. Kassim Aboud, a consultant surgeon with the Ministry of Defence, and Richard Mugaba, an employee of GodRich Limited, were mandated to execute a non-cash bond of 150 million shillings.
During the bail hearing, Sam Bitangaro, Tarazi’s lawyer, assured the court of his client’s commitment to attend all trial proceedings.
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Tarazi is facing charges alongside businessmen Salim Kisekka and Sudanese businessman Muhamad Abdelbagi. While Abdelbagi was granted bail earlier, Kisekka is yet to be formally charged but has been summoned to appear in court on March 20, 2024.
The prosecution alleges that Tarazi, Kisekka, Abdelbagi, and others collaborated to defraud Absa Bank of 1 billion shillings. Kisekka faces an additional charge of causing a financial loss of $245,000 under the Anti-Corruption Act.
If convicted under Section 309 of the Penal Code Act, the defendants could face a jail term of up to three years for conspiracy to defraud. Furthermore, under Section 20(1) of the Anti-Corruption Court Act, those found guilty of causing financial loss could be subject to a fine not exceeding 4.8 million shillings or imprisonment for up to 14 years, or both.
The prosecution’s case alleges that between March 11 and 12, 2022, at the Masaka branch of Absa Bank Uganda Limited, Tarazi, Kisekka, Abdelbagi, and accomplices fraudulently transferred funds from an account belonging to Abraham Yohannes.
Specifically, Kisekka is accused of transferring funds from Yohannes’ account to his own account by falsely claiming the transfer was for the purchase of land and shares in Bukomansimbi Community Radio Limited, with the intent to cause financial loss to the bank.
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