The State House Anti-Corruption Unit together with Police have arraigned Okello Lawrence and Okwiri Joel before the Chief Magistrates Court in Lira on charges of fraudulent procurement of certificate of title, conspiracy to commit a felony, altering boundary marks and occupying a forest reserve for commercial purposes.
The duo appealed before court on Friday and were remanded until December 19.
Facts of the case are that Okwiri as the chairperson of the Railways Division Area land committee, allegedly forged signatures of the other members of the committee and processed a title on the Lira Central Forest Reserve. He allegedly transferred the same into the names of Okello Lawrence who alleges to have paid him money.
Okello is then said to have cut down part of the forest reserve and poured Murram to drain it to put a petrol station.
The Ministry of Water and Environment officials notified Okello of the fact that he was on the forest reserve and tried to stop him from constructing a petrol station thereon, but he is said to have overpowered them due to the backing of some politicians and money.
The State House Anti-Corruption Unit headed by Brig Gen Henry Isoke in this year recovered Shs2.9b and saved Shs3.4b from potential loss. This was a result of their investigations into the diversion of iron sheets meant for Karamoja.
The Unit also reported that it made interventions in areas of education, recruitment, the Parish Development Model (PDM), land and environment corruption, and fraud against investors.