By Ben Musanje
The High Court has ordered MTN Uganda Limited to pay its former senior manager, Richard Mwami, more than Shs2.31 billion after concluding that the telecommunications giant maliciously engineered his prosecution over the 2011 mobile money fraud despite internal investigations clearing him of any wrongdoing.
In a judgment delivered on June 26, 2026, Acting Justice Isaac Bonny Teko found that MTN was the “moving force” behind Mwami’s criminal prosecution, acted without reasonable and probable cause, relied on an illegally obtained confession to implicate him and used the criminal justice system for an improper purpose.
“The Plaintiff has established all four essential ingredients of the tort of malicious prosecution,” Justice Teko ruled before entering judgment against MTN Uganda.
The court awarded Mwami Shs1.80975 billion in special damages, Shs400 million in general damages and Shs100 million in exemplary damages, bringing the total compensation to Shs2.30975 billion, excluding interest and legal costs. The company was also ordered to pay 10 percent annual interest on the award from the date of judgment until payment in full.
The Attorney General, who had also been sued, escaped liability after the court ruled that the claim against the government had been filed outside the statutory limitation period.
A whistleblower who became an accused
According to the judgment, Mwami was not an ordinary suspect in the case. He was, in fact, the employee who first uncovered suspicious transactions on MTN Uganda’s Fundamo mobile money platform in December 2011.
At the time, Mwami served as Senior Manager Public Access, having previously held the position of Senior Manager MTN Village Phone.
After detecting unusual transactions, he reported the matter to senior company officials, including Themba Khumalo and Anthony Katamba, prompting investigations into what later emerged as an alleged Shs16 billion mobile money fraud.
MTN subsequently hired Grant Thornton to carry out a forensic audit while police also launched criminal investigations.
The forensic report, dated January 12, 2012, identified individuals allegedly involved in the fraud but did not implicate Mwami.
Police investigations equally failed to connect him to the theft.
Instead, six other suspects, including Patrick Ssentongo, were charged before the Anti-Corruption Court while Mwami remained a complainant and potential prosecution witness.
The confession that changed everything
Justice Teko found that the case against Mwami only emerged more than a year later.
The judge said the sole basis for charging the former executive was a charge-and-caution statement allegedly made by Patrick Ssentongo on February 18, 2013, months after the original investigations had been concluded.
However, that confession was later rejected by the trial court.
In his acquittal judgment delivered on December 10, 2015, Justice Lawrence Gidudu ruled that Ssentongo’s confession had been obtained involuntarily, illegally and under circumstances that fell “far below the standard expected of a police investigation.”
The civil court found that evidence showed senior MTN officials were present during the obtaining of that statement.
According to Ssentongo’s testimony, MTN employee Mugisha handed notes to a police officer, who then instructed him on what to include in his statement, while the company’s then Company Secretary, Anthony Katamba, became irritated when Ssentongo requested legal representation before making any confession.
Justice Teko noted that MTN never called either official to rebut those allegations.
“The evidence… stands uncontradicted on the civil record,” the judge observed.
Why the court blamed MTN
One of the central questions before the court was whether MTN merely reported a crime or actually instigated Mwami’s prosecution.
The company argued that criminal proceedings were independently handled by police and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), insisting it could not be held responsible for prosecutorial decisions.
Justice Teko disagreed.
He found that although the DPP formally prosecuted the case, MTN was the driving force behind the proceedings because it possessed evidence clearing Mwami but nevertheless relied on an unlawful confession to have him charged.
The judge concluded that no reasonable person could have believed Mwami was guilty when the company’s own forensic audit had excluded him from any involvement in the fraud.
“The 2nd Defendant acted without reasonable and probable cause,” Justice Teko ruled.
“Sacrificial lamb”
The judgment repeatedly referred to findings made by Justice Lawrence Gidudu during Mwami’s acquittal.
Justice Gidudu had described Mwami as a “sacrificial lamb,” observing that he should have strengthened the prosecution’s case instead of appearing in the dock as an accused person.
Justice Teko agreed with that assessment.
He found it suspicious that Mwami was only arrested on April 23, 2013—more than one year after investigations had concluded and after criminal proceedings against the original suspects had already begun.
The court also questioned why police used the Violent Crimes Crack Unit, a specialized unit typically reserved for armed robbery and homicide investigations, to arrest a senior corporate executive accused of financial crimes.
The judge said those circumstances strengthened the conclusion that the prosecution was motivated by an improper purpose.
Malice inferred from the evidence
Justice Teko held that MTN’s conduct amounted to malice under the law.
He said the company knew Mwami was the whistleblower who had uncovered the fraud and that its own forensic investigation had cleared him.
Yet, instead of relying on that evidence, it participated in circumstances surrounding an illegally obtained confession that ultimately became the only basis for charging him.
The court also noted that by the time criminal charges were brought, Mwami had joined Mobile Money Africa Limited and had associations with EzeeMoney, a company then involved in litigation against MTN over alleged anti-competitive practices.
The timing, the court ruled, provided additional circumstantial evidence that the prosecution served purposes beyond the proper administration of justice.
Career and reputation destroyed
Justice Teko said the consequences of the prosecution on Mwami’s life were devastating.
Following his arrest, he spent seven days on remand at Luzira Prison before securing bail.
He remained under restrictive bail conditions for more than two years, limiting his freedom of movement and preventing him from travelling abroad to attend important family events, including his children’s school activities in Kenya.
The criminal case also received widespread media coverage, severely damaging his reputation.
His troubles worsened after the Bank of Uganda classified him as a reputational risk.
As a result, his new employer, Mobile Money Africa Limited, terminated his employment.
Mwami had joined the company under a contract providing a monthly salary of US$15,000, a housing allowance of US$2,000 per month, annual medical benefits worth US$3,000, performance bonuses and the use of a company vehicle.
The court found that the criminal prosecution directly caused the loss of that employment.
How the court calculated the award
Mwami had sought Shs2.8785 billion in special damages, Shs1.3 billion in general damages, exemplary damages, interest and costs.
His claim included lost salary, housing allowance, medical benefits, the value of a company vehicle, performance bonuses and legal fees.
Justice Teko allowed the salary, housing and medical benefit claims after finding that they had been proved through Mwami’s employment contract and were directly linked to his dismissal.
However, the court rejected claims relating to the company vehicle, performance bonuses and legal fees because they had either not been sufficiently proved or were conditional upon factors that had not been established.
Consequently, the court awarded Shs1.80975 billion in special damages instead of the Shs2.8785 billion claimed.
The judge further awarded Shs400 million in general damages for the reputational harm, emotional distress, loss of liberty, destruction of Mwami’s professional career and other losses arising from the prosecution.
An additional Shs100 million in exemplary damages was awarded to punish what the court described as particularly egregious conduct and to deter powerful corporate entities from abusing the criminal justice system against individuals.
Final orders
Justice Teko concluded that MTN Uganda had instigated the prosecution, lacked reasonable and probable cause, acted maliciously and caused Mwami substantial financial, professional and reputational harm.
The court ordered the company to pay:
- Shs1.80975 billion in special damages;
- Shs400 million in general damages;
- Shs100 million in exemplary damages;
- 10 percent annual interest on the total award from June 26, 2026 until payment in full; and
- The costs of the suit.
The ruling is among the largest malicious prosecution awards made against a private company in Uganda and underscores the judiciary’s warning against using criminal proceedings to pursue collateral or commercial interests at the expense of innocent individuals. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
