By Spy Uganda
What began as an attempt by a senior MTN Uganda executive to expose suspicious transactions within the telecom giant’s mobile money platform ultimately saw him arrested, prosecuted and branded a fraudster. Fourteen years later, the High Court has ruled that the prosecution was malicious and ordered MTN Uganda to pay him more than Shs2.3 billion in damages.
In a landmark judgment delivered on June 26, 2026, Justice Isaac Bonny Teko of the High Court Civil Division found that although the criminal case against former MTN Uganda senior manager Richard Mwami was formally prosecuted by the State, the telecom company was the “moving force” behind the proceedings.
The court entered judgment against MTN Uganda Limited for malicious prosecution and awarded Mwami a total of Shs2.309 billion, comprising Shs1.81 billion in special damages, Shs400 million in general damages and Shs100 million in exemplary damages. The amount will also attract interest at 10 percent per annum from the date of judgment until payment in full, in addition to legal costs.
The ruling stems from one of Uganda’s biggest corporate fraud investigations involving an alleged Shs16 billion loss from MTN’s mobile money platform.
According to the judgment, Mwami, then Senior Manager Public Access at MTN Uganda, discovered unusual transactions on the company’s Fundamo mobile money platform in December 2011 and reported them to senior management, including then executives Themba Khumalo and Anthony Katamba.
The suspicious transactions eventually triggered investigations by police and an independent forensic audit conducted by Grant Thornton.
However, despite being the employee who first raised the alarm, Mwami was later arrested and charged alongside other suspects.
Justice Teko noted that the Grant Thornton forensic report dated January 12, 2012, did not implicate Mwami in the alleged fraud.
Instead, the court found that the prosecution largely relied on a charge-and-caution statement recorded by Patrick Ssentongo in February 2013, a statement that had earlier been rejected by the High Court as involuntary and illegally obtained.
“The plaintiff was not implicated in the original investigations that he himself initiated,” Justice Teko observed.
Mwami was ultimately acquitted of all criminal charges on December 10, 2015.
One of the central questions before the court was whether MTN could be held liable when the prosecution had been conducted by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and the Uganda Police Force.
MTN argued that it neither instituted the criminal proceedings nor directed the prosecution, maintaining that law enforcement agencies independently investigated and prosecuted the matter.
The court rejected that defence.
Justice Teko held that a party need not be the formal prosecutor to incur liability for malicious prosecution. Rather, the issue is whether that party substantially caused or procured the prosecution.
After reviewing the evidence, the court concluded that MTN was responsible for setting the prosecution in motion.
The judge pointed to evidence showing that MTN employees were present during the procurement of Ssentongo’s statement but were never called by the company to explain their role.
The court also faulted MTN for disregarding its own forensic findings, which had cleared Mwami of involvement in the alleged fraud.
Justice Teko further referred to earlier findings by Justice Lawrence Gidudu, who had described Mwami as a “sacrificial lamb” and suggested he ought to have been treated as a prosecution witness rather than an accused person.
The court found that MTN acted without reasonable and probable cause.
According to the judgment, no prudent person in possession of the forensic audit and aware of the questionable circumstances under which Ssentongo’s statement was obtained could honestly believe Mwami was guilty.
Justice Teko further found that the company acted with an improper motive.
The judgment highlighted that Mwami was arrested more than a year after investigations had ended and at a time when he had become associated with EzeeMoney, a company that had instituted civil proceedings against MTN over alleged anti-competitive conduct.
The timing, the court said, supported an inference that the criminal prosecution served a collateral commercial purpose rather than a genuine quest for justice.
In assessing damages, the court found that Mwami suffered severe financial and personal losses.
The court accepted evidence that he lost a monthly salary equivalent to USD15,000 over 28 months following the criminal proceedings. It also awarded compensation for lost housing and medical allowances.
Justice Teko further noted that Mwami’s reputation was irreparably damaged after he was publicly accused of fraud and embezzlement in a case that attracted widespread media coverage.
He spent seven days on remand at Luzira Prison, remained on restrictive bail for more than two years and was unable to travel freely or participate fully in family life.
The judgment also found that the criminal proceedings effectively ended his professional career after the Bank of Uganda reportedly classified him as a reputational risk, leading to the loss of employment opportunities.
“The plaintiff carried for more than two years the stigma of serious criminal charges brought and maintained in bad faith by a former employer,” Justice Teko observed.
In addition to compensatory damages, the court awarded Shs100 million in exemplary damages, saying there was a compelling public interest in deterring powerful corporations from weaponising the criminal justice system against individuals.
Although Mwami had also sued the Attorney General, the claim against the government was struck out after the court found it had been filed outside the statutory two-year limitation period applicable to tort claims against government.
However, the court ruled that the suit against MTN was filed within the applicable six-year limitation period governing claims against private entities and therefore proceeded to determine the matter on its merits.
The decision is expected to become a significant precedent in employment and corporate litigation, reinforcing judicial warnings against the misuse of criminal proceedings to settle commercial or workplace disputes.
For Mwami, the judgment marks the end of a legal battle that began after he reported suspicious transactions within MTN’s mobile money system, only to find himself prosecuted over the very fraud he had sought to expose.
