The Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala has remanded Mathew Bagonza, an aide to Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) chairman Odrek Rwabwogo, to prison after being charged with abuse of office and money laundering.
Bagonza appeared before Principal Grade One Magistrate Christopher Opit and one count for each of the two charges read against him.
Prosecution alleges that Bagonza, who served as head of the PACEID secretariat under the Office of the President, in January 2024 allegedly abused his office by irregularly registering and incorporating the Presidential Initiative on Export and Industrial Development as a private limited company.
Prosecutors allege that the company had objectives similar to those of PACEID and that its incorporation was prejudicial to the interests of his employer and the Government of Uganda contrary to Section 10(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act.
Bagonza also faces a money laundering charge arising from alleged financial transactions between September 1, 2023 and August 30, 2026.
Prosecution alleges that Bagonza, together with other suspects still at large, transferred Shs171.7 million from an account at Housing Finance Bank’s Kololo Branch, opened in the names of the Presidential Initiative on Export and Industrial Development, to his personal account.
The prosecution alleges that the transactions were intended to conceal or disguise the illicit origin of the funds, which Bagonza allegedly knew or had reason to believe were proceeds of crime, contrary to
3(a), 119 and 139(10(a) of the Anti Money Laundering Act.
Prosecution led by Nnam Teopista and Viola Tusingiwire told court that investigations into the matter are still ongoing prompting the trial magistrate to remand him Luzira until October,5, 2026.
