By Spy Uganda
The Anti-Corruption Court has convicted Mr. Ateng Francis, a former Principal Assistant Secretary at the Ministry of Lands, Lira Zonal Office, on eleven counts, including abuse of office, fraudulent procurement of a land title, forgery, uttering false documents, and conspiracy to commit a felony. He has been remanded until November 7, 2025, when he will be sentenced.
Court records reveal that in January 2018, while serving at the Ministry’s Lira Zonal Office, Ateng allegedly abused his authority in a scheme to defraud Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) of its land. He is said to have facilitated the illegal issuance of a special certificate of title, organized the separation and allocation of the property, identified brokers, and sold the land to private individuals without following the lawful procedures for disposing of government assets.
Prosecutors told court that Ateng and his co-accused forged the signature of the then Managing Director of URC, which they allegedly used to prepare and utter false documents during the fraudulent transfer and sale of the land.
One of his co-accused, Mr. Ocen Joseph, had earlier pleaded guilty to similar charges and was sentenced to two years in prison.
The conviction follows extensive investigations ordered by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in 2022. The directive tasked the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, in collaboration 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 attempts to illegally sell URC property.
Ateng’s sentencing next month will mark another milestone in government’s ongoing crackdown on land-related corruption within public institutions.
