The Anti-Corruption Court has sentenced Francis Ateng, a former Principal Assistant Secretary at the Ministry of Lands (Lira Zonal Office), to three years in prison after finding him guilty on 11 charges, including abuse of office, fraudulent procurement of a certificate of title, forgery, uttering false documents, and conspiracy to commit a felony.
According to court proceedings, Ateng committed the offences in January 2018, while serving at the Lands Zonal Office in Lira District.
Prosecutors told court that Ateng, together with others still under investigation, abused his authority with the intention of defrauding Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) of its land.
Evidence showed that Ateng irregularly facilitated the issuance of a special certificate of title, arranged the subdivision and allocation of the land, identified brokers, and oversaw the sale of the URC property to private buyers.
All these actions were carried out without following government procedures for the disposal of public assets.
The court further heard that Ateng and his accomplices forged the signature of the then URC Managing Director, which they used on falsified documents that enabled the illegal transfer and sale of the corporation’s land.
One of his co-accused, Ocen Joseph, who played a key role in the scheme, earlier pleaded guilty and was handed a two-year custodial sentence.
The conviction stems from a 2022 directive by President Yoweri Museveni, instructing the State House Anti-Corruption Unit working jointly with the Criminal Investigations Directorate and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to probe corruption within Uganda Railways Corporation and bring to book all individuals implicated in the fraudulent acquisition and sale of its land.
