Related documents
- Is amended by Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2015
- Amends Penal Code Act
Uganda
Anti-Corruption Act, 2009
Act 6 of 2009
- Published in Uganda Gazette 42 on 25 August 2009
- Assented to on 25 July 2009
- Commenced on 25 August 2009
- [This is the version of this document at 31 December 2023.]
- [Note: The version of the Act as at 31 December 2023 was revised and consolidated by the Law Reform Commission of Uganda. All subsequent amendments have been researched and applied by Laws.Africa for ULII.]
- [Amended by Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2015 (Act 21 of 2015) on 11 November 2015]
Part I – Interpretation
1. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—“agent” means a person employed by or acting for another, and includes a trustee, an administrator or an executor, and a person employed in the public service or under a corporation or a public body, and for the purposes of section 5 includes a subcontractor and a person who is employed by or acting for a subcontractor;“authorised officer” means a police officer not below the rank of Assistant Inspector of Police authorised in writing by the Inspector General of Police or an inspectorate officer authorised in writing by the Inspector General of Government or a State Attorney authorised in writing by the Director of Public Prosecutions;“confiscation” includes forfeiture and where applicable, means the permanent deprivation of property by order of court;“confiscation order” means a confiscation order referred to in section 66;“corruptly” means purposely doing an act, which tends to corrupt, or influence a person to do an act or omission contrary to established procedures;“currency point” has the value assigned to it in the Schedule to this Act;“gratification” includes—(a)money or any gift, loan, fee, reward, commission, valuable security or other property or interest in property of any description, whether movable or immovable;(b)any office, employment or contract;(c)any payment, release, discharge or liquidation of any loan, obligation or other liability, whether in whole or in part;(d)any other service, favour or advantage of any description, including protection from any penalty or disability incurred or apprehended or from any action or proceedings of a disciplinary or penal nature, whether or not already instituted, and includes the exercise or the forbearance from the exercise of any right or any official power or duty; and(e)any offer, undertaking or promise of any gratification within the meaning of subparagraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d);“inspectorate officer” means an officer of the Inspectorate of Government designated as an inspectorate officer;“property” includes money, assets of every kind whether corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible and legal documents or instruments evidencing title to or interest in such assets;“principal” includes an employer, a beneficiary under a trust, and a trust estate as though it were a person and any person beneficially interested in the estate of a deceased person as though the estate were a person and in the case of a person employed in the public service or a public body, includes the Government or the public body, as the case may be;“public body” includes—(a)the Government, any department, services or undertaking of the Government;(b)the East African Community, its institutions and corporations;(c)the Cabinet, Parliament, any court;(d)a district administration, a district council and any committee of a district council, local council and any committee of any such council;(e)any corporation, committee, board, commission or similar body whether corporate or incorporate, established by an Act of Parliament for the purposes of any written law relating to the public health or public undertakings of public utility, education or for promotion of sports, literature, science, arts or any other purpose for the benefit of the public or any section of the public to administer funds or property belonging to or granted by the Government or the East African Community, its institutions or its corporations or money raised by public subscription, rates, taxes, cess or charges in pursuance of any written law;(f)a political party, labour union, society registered under the Cooperative Societies Act and any council, board, committee or society established by an Act of Parliament for the benefit, regulation and control of any profession or non-governmental organisations;“special investigator” means a person appointed under section 50;“tainted property” means property used in connection with the commission of an offence under this Act or property constituting the proceeds of an offence.Part II – Corruption
2. Corruption
A person commits the offence of corruption if he or she does any of the following acts—3. Corrupt transactions with agents
Any person who—4. Corruptly procuring tenders
5. Bribery of public official
A person who—6. Diversion of public resources
Any person who converts, transfers or disposes of public funds for purposes unrelated to the purpose for which the resources were intended, for the benefit of that person or of a third party, commits an offence.7. Payment of compensation to aggrieved party
8. Influence peddling
A person who does or omits to do an act in contravention of established principles or procedure as a result of improper influence, for the benefit of that person or of a third party, commits an offence.9. Loss of public property
10. Abuse of office
11. Sectarianism
Any person who being the holder of an office does any act in connection with the office for the purpose of doing a favour or offering undue advantage to any person on the basis of the religion or sect, ethnic group or place of origin of that person, commits an offence.12. Nepotism
Any person who being the holder of an office does any act in connection with the office for the purpose of doing favours to any person on the basis of blood relations between that person and that other person, commits an offence.13. Officers charged with administration of property of special character, etc.
Where a person who is employed in the public service is charged by virtue of his or her employment with any judicial or administrative duties in respect of property of a special character or in respect of the carrying on of any manufacture, trade or business—14. Unauthorised administration of oaths
15. False assumption of authority
Any person who—16. Personating public officials
Any person who—17. Threat of injury to persons employed in public service
Any person who holds out a threat of injury to any person employed in the public service or to a person he or she believes is employed in the public service, for the purpose of inducing that person who is employed in the public service to do any act or to forbear or delay to do any act connected with the exercise of the public functions of that person employed in the public service, commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding seventy currency points or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both.18. Embezzlement
Any person who being—19. Causing financial loss
20. Fraudulent disposal of trust property
21. Dealing with suspect property
22. False accounting by public officer
Any person who, being an officer charged with the receipt, custody or management of any part of the public revenue or property, knowingly furnishes any false statement or return of money or property received by him or her or entrusted to his or her care, or of any balance of money or property in his or her possession or under his or her control, commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding seventy-two currency points or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both.23. Fraudulent false accounting
Any person who, being a clerk or servant, or being employed or acting in the capacity of a clerk or servant, does any of the following acts with intent to defraud—24. False claims by officials
Any person who, being employed in the public service in such a capacity as to require him or her or to enable him or her to furnish returns or statements touching any sum payable or claimed to be payable to himself or herself or to any other person, or touching any other matter required to be certified for the purpose of any payment of money or delivery of goods to be made to any person, makes a return or statement touching any matter which is to his or her knowledge false in any material particular, commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding seventy-two currency points or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both.25. False certificates by public officers
Any person who, being authorised or required by law to give a certificate touching a matter that may affect or prejudice the rights of any person, gives a certificate which is, to his or her knowledge, false in any material particular, commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding seventy-two currency points or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both.Part III – Offences and penalties
26. Punishment for offences under sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11 and 12
27. Penalty to be imposed in addition to other punishment
Where a person is convicted of an offence committed by the acceptance of any gratification in contravention of any provision of this Act, then, if that gratification is a sum of money or if the value of that gratification can be assessed, the court shall, in addition to imposing on that person any other punishment, order him or her to pay as a penalty, within such time as may be specified in the order, a sum which is equal to the amount of the gratification or is, in the opinion of the court, the value of that gratification, and any such penalty shall be recoverable as a fine.28. Principal may recover amount of secret gift
29. Acceptor of gratification to be guilty notwithstanding that purpose not carried out, etc.
30. Evidence of pecuniary resources or property
In a trial by a court for an offence under this Act, the fact that an accused person is in possession, for which he or she cannot satisfactorily account, of pecuniary resources or property disproportionate to the accused person’s known sources of income, or that the accused person had, at or about the time of the alleged offence, obtained an accretion of his or her pecuniary resources or property for which he or she cannot satisfactorily account, that fact may be proved and may be taken into consideration by the court as corroborating the testimony of any witness in the trial or inquiry that the accused person accepted or obtained or agreed to accept or attempted to obtain any gratification and as showing that the gratification was accepted or obtained or agreed to be accepted or attempted to be obtained corruptly as an inducement or reward.31. Illicit enrichment
32. Evidence of accomplice
Notwithstanding any rule of practice or written law to the contrary, no witness in a trial by a court of an offence under this Act shall be regarded by the court as being unworthy of credit by reason only of any payment or delivery by him or her or on his or her behalf of any gratification to an agent or member of a public body.33. Special investigation powers of Inspector General of Government and Director of Public Prosecutions
34. Court to restrict disposal of assets or bank accounts of accused, etc.
35. Payment of compensation out of resources of convicted person
Part IV – Powers of Inspector General of Government and Director of Public Prosecutions
36. Powers of Inspector General of Government and Director of Public Prosecutions, to order inspection of documents
37. Orders of search and seizure
38. Duty to give information
39. Obstruction of search, etc.
Any person who—40. Obstruction of investigations
Any person who, with the intent to conceal an offence or frustrate the investigation of a suspected offence of corruption under this Act—41. Powers of Director of Public Prosecutions and Inspector General of Government to obtain information
42. Evidence and defence of custom
43. Duty to arrest
44. Protection of informers
45. Penalty for giving false information
46. Disqualification
A person who is convicted of an offence under section 2 to section 25 shall be disqualified from holding a public office for a period of ten years from his or her conviction.47. Protection of persons acting in pursuance of Act
An act, matter or thing done or omitted by a person authorised by this Act to perform the duty or exercise a function shall not, if the act, matter or thing was done or omitted in good faith, render the person personally liable to any action, liability, claim or demand.48. Invalidity of appointment as bar to prosecution
A person shall not be exempt from prosecution under this Act by reason of the invalidity of his or her appointment, nomination or election to his or her office.49. Prosecution of offences
A prosecution under this Act shall not be instituted except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Inspector General of Government; but a person charged with such an offence may be arrested, or a warrant for his or her arrest may be issued and executed, and the person may be detained or released on police bond, notwithstanding that the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Inspector General of Government, to the institution of a prosecution for the offence has not been obtained, but no further or other proceedings shall be taken until that consent has been obtained.50. Appointment of special investigators
Part V – Jurisdiction
51. Jurisdiction to try offences
The jurisdiction to try an offence under this Act shall be exercised only by—52. Punishment for attempts, preparations, abetments and criminal conspiracies
Any person who—Part VI – Restraining order
53. Application for restraining order
Where a person has been charged or is about to be charged with an offence under this Act, an authorised officer may make an application to the court for an order, in this Act referred to as a restraining order, restraining the disposal of the property of, or in possession or under the control of that person, wherever that property is situated.54. Contents of application for restraining order
An application made under section 53 shall be accompanied by an affidavit setting out—55. Issue of restraining order
Where the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that there exists property in respect of which a restraining order may be made under this Act, the court may make an order—56. Contents of restraining order
57. Notice of application for restraining order
Before making a restraining order, the court may require notice to be given to, and may hear any person who, in the opinion of the court, appears to have an interest in the property, unless the court is of the opinion that giving the notice before making the order would result in the disappearance, disposal, dissipation or reduction in the value of the property.58. Service of restraining order
A copy of the restraining order shall be served on the person affected by the restraining order in a manner directed by the court or prescribed by law.59. Registration of restraining order
60. Setting aside disposition
61. Duration of restraining order
A restraining order remains in force until—62. Review of restraining order
Part VII – confiscation order
63. Court to assess benefit derived from act of corruption
64. Presumption of property or interest
65. Assessment order
66. Confiscation order
67. Court to appoint manager, receiver or administrator
68. Review of confiscation order
69. Confiscation costs
Where the court orders confiscation of property under section 66, the costs of enforcing the order shall be recovered from the proceeds of recovery.70. Procedure for confiscation order in relation to property where person dies or absconds
71. Voidable transfers
The court may, before making a confiscation order and, in the case of property in respect of which a restraining order is made, notice of which is given and the order served in accordance with this Act, set aside any conveyance or transfer of the property that occurred after the seizure of the property or the service of the restraining order, unless the conveyance or transfer was made for valuable consideration to a person acting in good faith and without notice.Part VIII – Miscellaneous
72. Power to amend Schedule
The Minister may, by statutory instrument, with the approval of Cabinet, amend the Schedule to this Act.73. Power of Chief Justice to make rules
The Chief Justice shall make rules to regulate the procedure—74. Declaration of reciprocating States or territories and courts and reciprocity with other States or territories
75. Extra-territorial enforcement
History of this document
31 December 2023 this version
Consolidation
11 November 2015
25 August 2009
25 July 2009
Assented to
Cited documents 2
Act 1
1. | Leadership Code Act, 2002 | 7 citations |
Ordinance 1
1. | Penal Code Act | 4 citations |
Documents citing this one 15
Judgment 14
Gazette 1
1. | Uganda Government Gazette dated 2010-01-22 number 4 |