The High Court has ordered MTN Uganda Limited to pay more than Shs2.3 billion to its former Senior Manager, Richard Mwami, after finding that the telecom company maliciously instigated his prosecution in the MTN Mobile Money fraud case.
Court documents show that Mwami, who previously served as Senior Manager for MTN Village Phone before becoming Senior Manager for Public Access, detected suspicious transactions on MTN’s Fundamo mobile money platform in December 2011. He promptly reported the irregularities to senior management, triggering internal investigations into what later emerged as a major fraud scheme involving about Shs16 billion.
Following the report, MTN Uganda commissioned Grant Thornton to conduct a forensic audit, which cleared Mwami of any involvement in the theft. However, despite this exoneration, the company relied on a charge and caution statement attributed to one of the suspects, Patrick Ssentongo, to implicate him. That statement was later dismissed by the Anti-Corruption Court after it was found to have been obtained through unlawful means.
Mwami was subsequently arrested and prosecuted, but was acquitted in December 2015 after the trial court found no evidence linking him to the offence. The court described him as a “sacrificial lamb” who ought to have been treated as a prosecution witness rather than an accused person.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Bonny Isaac Teko, the High Court found that MTN Uganda was the driving force behind Mwami’s prosecution despite having a forensic report that had cleared him. The judge held that the company lacked reasonable and probable cause to initiate the prosecution and instead relied on inadmissible and discredited evidence.
The court further found that MTN acted with malice by pursuing criminal proceedings for an improper purpose. It noted that Mwami was arrested more than a year after investigations had concluded, and that he was picked up by the Violent Crimes Crack Unit despite no evidence linking him to violent conduct.
Justice Teko also accepted Mwami’s claim that the prosecution destroyed his professional career, as he was later classified as a reputational risk by the Bank of Uganda, leading to the loss of employment opportunities.
He further noted that Mwami spent seven days on remand at Luzira Prison, remained on strict bail conditions for over two years, and suffered significant reputational damage due to the fraud allegations.
The court awarded Mwami Shs1.809 billion in special damages, Shs400 million in general damages, and Shs100 million in exemplary damages, bringing the total to over Shs2.3 billion. MTN Uganda was also ordered to pay 10 per cent annual interest until full payment, along with costs of the suit.
While MTN Uganda denied liability, arguing that the prosecution was independently handled by police and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, the court held that its actions were instrumental in setting the case in motion.
Justice Teko emphasized that exemplary damages were necessary to deter powerful corporate entities from abusing the criminal justice system.
