A private businessman in Tororo district has been arrested by police detectives from the State House Anti-Corruption Unit.

The suspect, identified as Polly Natuhwera, the director of Zionat Multipurpose Limited, was arrested on Thursday, May 16, 2024, by the detachments.

Mariam Natasha, the spokesperson for State House Anti-Corruption, told Nexus Media that the suspect trouble stemmed from the diversion of over UGX162 million that was advanced to his company to start the construction of learning structures at Mwello Seed School.

Natasha said that in December 2023, a UGX 648,323,714 contract was signed between Tororo District and M/s Zionat Multipurpose International Limited for the construction of Mwello Seed School, with a completion date of May 30, 2024.

“The site was handed over in February, and an advance payment of UGX 162,080,929 was paid to the contractor. However, he did not start work until April 19, 2024,” Natasha said.

According to the preliminary report, Tororo District officials, including the District Engineer and CAO, made numerous attempts to get to the contractor without any success and also notified him of their intention to terminate the contract.

“Upon arrest, Polly Natuhwera admitted to diverting part of the UGX 162M to other uses,” Natasha added.

She noted that investigations also revealed that, whereas during the bidding process, the contractor provided profiles of qualified and registered engineers as project manager and site engineer, on the ground he has no qualified and registered engineers doing the work.

Investigation further revealed that the same contractor has an ongoing contract for the construction of Simu Seed School Phase II in Bulambuli district, which is also at foundation level, since the signing of the contract in January 2024 at a cost of UGX 89 million.