In 2014, when Hans Paulsen was still the MD Vivo Energy (which distributes & markets all shell-branded fuel & lubricants) the company dragged UNRA to court protesting refusal to pay for fuel that was supplied between December 2012 and June 2013. The claim stood at over Shs3.52bn which the old UNRA management refused to pay on grounds that the fuel firm had fraudulently over invoiced them for fuel they didn’t consume. Vivo Energy invoices reflected that UNRA officials had used their fuel cards to consume fuel in upcountry places where (it turned out) they had never been. And the court subsequently discovered that some rogue employees at Vivo Energy had produced dummy fuel cards that would be used to increase fuel consumption beyond quantities UNRA had actually consumed. In some cases, UNRA was fictitiously invoiced for taking fuel in upcountry districts and places where they had never had a presence. Inside UNRA, the red flag was raised by two employees in the audit department namely Abbot Naturinda (Head Financial Audit) and John Bosco Sejjemba who heads enforcement. When court proceedings began, the two officials addressed court as witnesses whose evidence greatly impeached the character and credibility of Vivo Energy as a corporate entity. At the end of the hearing, Justice Anna Bitature Mugenyi (formerly a URA lawyer) dismissed the suit filed by Vivo Energy against UNRA and even gave costs against the plaintiff firm. She ordered dodgy Vivo Energy bosses “to refund Ugx3,102,309,201 being the net off of the amount overpaid and the outstanding invoices.” The company was also ordered to pay UNRA the costs of the counterclaim the Authority lawyers successfully filed in the same commercial court. To their credit, the internal lawyers of the new UNRA opted to amend the defense KAA (former UNRA external lawyers) had filed and put something more comprehensive. They also put the counterclaim which KAA had overlooked. Losing this all important suit to UNRA will perhaps be the lowest moment so far for new Vivo Energy MD Gilbert Assi who replaced Paulsen in March 2017. One of the things that complicated the case for Vivo Energy was failure by their Card Sales Manager Emmanuel Wamala to testify properly during the proceedings. In fact the court found that some acts of fraud were committed by Vivo Energy and thereby denting their corporate image beyond redemption. Fraud was construed from the way the company’s employees tried forging things in order to make UNRA pay for fuel it never consumed. Court held that, for its deliberate decision to dubiously tender in invoices based on deliberate discrepancies, Vivo Energy must be made to pay heavily to serve as a lesson to other future intending offenders among corporate organizations. Being the market leader in the fuel business, Vivo Energy has operated in Uganda since 1953 and has over 137 service stations. It seeks to be the most respected fuel distributor in Africa and in Uganda it directly employs over 130 people. Inside UNRA, the defeat against Vivo Energy has left guys in the internal audit department chest-thumping saying it’s their vigilance that saved the tax payer’s billions.
For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755.
