The Police have started investigating claims by the state minister for investment, Evelyn Anite, that “a mafia cabal” opposed to an audit into the Uganda Telecom (UTL) is plotting to kill her.
Grace Akullo, the head of the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), said yesterday that detectives recorded a statement from Anite, regarding her claims, on Tuesday.
“We are carrying out investigations regarding her statements that there are people planning to kill her,” Akullo said without divulging further details.
The CID spokesperson, Charles Mansio Twine, said the minister filed a formal complaint to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Okoth Ochola, who instructed CID to investigate.
“She recorded a detailed statement in regard to threats to her life, and naming the people she suspects to be behind the threats,” Twine said.
Anite alleged that the “mafia clique” has received printouts of her communication from a telecom company. She added that “a mafia group” has started tapping her phone, and sometimes
“I hear them talking on my phone when I pick a call to talk to other people”.
The minister claimed that her detractors have raised an army of “young men” to seduce her into bed and take nude photos to embarrass her.
He, however, declined to reveal details, including names mentioned by Anite in her statement, for fear of jeopardizing investigations. The minister said she had reported threats on her life to the Police before she addressed a press conference on Monday.
Anite told the Monday press conference that individuals who were opposed to the UTL audit, which commenced last week, have so far met in two places in Kampala to plan how to eliminate her. Anite and the Secretary to the Treasury, Keith Muhakanizi, were for days locked in a standoff that threatened to fail the audit.
Muhakanizi insisted that the probe would not take place because the office of the Attorney General had advised against it, while Anite maintained that it would go ahead. However, the High Court on August 9 ended the standoff and allowed the Auditor General to probe UTL over 30 days following an application from the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, one of the creditors of the telecom company.