In the month of December 2018, Batte Kasim Abdul who claims to be a clearing agent with Intra Cargo informed a client that Uganda Revenue Authority was going to auction some vehicles.
According to Ian Rumanyika, the Assistant Commissioner Public and Corporate Affairs at URA, the suspect told the complainant about the availability of two vehicles, a Toyota Harrier and a Sahara Pick-up both in good condition.
Batte, dressed up in a white shirt emblazoned with a Uganda Revenue Authority logo and customs pips (an imitation of the URA customs officers’ uniform) informed the client that he works in the Commissioner Customs Office.
He then took the complainant to a place in Nakawa, near MUBS and generated assessments for the complainant. However, the assessments he issued the complainant were for payment of income tax.
To complete his con, Batte then first collected Shs1.2m from the complainant and after some time, he was given an additional Shs200,000 as a fee for registration number plates for each vehicle.
Rumanyika says Batte was arrested through the aid of the complainant and preliminary findings indicate that he works with a clique to defraud people with the false promise to help them secure vehicles and other goods being auctioned by URA.
The group takes pictures of the items and sometimes bring the clients to the premises of URA.
Rumanyika says URA has established that Batte has owned the fake URA uniform since 2015. He was also found in possession of counterfeit URA payment slips with serial reference numbers; 436, 437, 438 and 439.
“Batte is set to be produced in court and charged accordingly. Other victims of this suspected fraudster are encouraged to come out and seek justice.
URA is urging the Public to remain vigilant and to always visit URA Offices whenever they have any inquiries on any of URA services and also swiftly report such cases so as to be helped.
