The scammer was consequently introduced to the President with whom he held several meetings before meeting other government officials, including Dr. Samson Kisekka, who was the Vice President at the time.

Discussions, according to the newspaper, focused on the possibility of investing in oil exploration and food processing.

Ward then allegedly established a private limited company, Uganda General Works and Engineering (UGWEC Ltd), registered on February 28, 1994.

He then obtained a license to go into food processing and cold storage. The permit expired at the end of October 1996 without him having placed anything on the ground.

In a highly publicized and publicized event, on February 21, 1995, UGWEC and the Ministry of Natural Resources signed a Petroleum Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) which was intended to pave the way for exploration oil in the Lake Albert region. .

Under the terms of the deal, Ward was to invest an initial sum of $10 million, something he has never done before. Under the terms of the agreement, work was supposed to have started within 90 days of the start of the agreement.

Fearing that the American would not meet his commitments, the government put pressure on Ward, who presented a bank guarantee of $10 million which, according to the newspaper, turned out to be false.

While his boss took government officials on a tour, Mr. Ward’s assistant at UGWEC, Lawrence Denig, began traveling to Kampala to sell UGWEC shares to prominent members of the world. of Kampala Affairs.

The Monitor learned at the time that a total of 41 Ugandan individuals and organizations, lured by cashing in petrodollars, parted with $102,916 (Sh103 million). Another group of US-based Ugandans were also lured and contributed another $85,217 (Sh85 million).

However, after discovering that the bank guarantee he had issued was false and that he did not have the capital to finance the investments, in March 1996, government officials, who were now left with egg on their faces, canceled the UGWEC license.

Ugandan members of the UGWEC board also resigned. The group included the alternate chairman of the board, Apuuli, the secretary, Mr Emmanuel Kirenga, as well as businessmen Thomas I Katto and Boney M Katatumba. Mr. Kirenga was Minister of State for Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

Board members were quick to condemn Ward as a fraudster who had never paid them for their services.

“He’s a thief. I resigned in May this year,” Mr Kirenga reportedly told the newspaper.

“I resigned. They never paid. They gave a fake check and fled. We even closed their offices,” Katatumba said.

The UGWEC had occupied offices in Blacklines House, owned by Mr. Katatumba. The company also booked accommodation for Ward and Denig at the Diplomat Hotel, another of the tycoon’s properties. The two entities owed a total of $74,000.

“Ward presented himself to us as a wealthy, prominent civil engineer on the American West Coast with assets worth $120 million. We stupidly believed it,” Katenta Apuuli reportedly lamented.

It is worth noting that it was at the same time that the government began negotiations with three other companies, the American TDC Energy and Azania House, and the British Heritage Oil and Gas, to carry out oil exploration.

Interestingly, however, Ward was one of the first to urge the government to exercise caution in its dealings with the three companies. In an October 24, 1996 letter that he faxed to the President’s Office, the U.S. Embassy, ​​the Energy Department, lawmakers, and the press, he urged caution regarding new agreements. that the government was working on.

“I sincerely hope that you will carefully consider the two oil proposals (Heritage Oil)… before an oil contract is approved by the government,” he wrote.

In what turned out to be a waste of money, the government retained the services of an international firm, the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Ms Reichler, Milton and Mqdel, to bring Ward to be accountable. The lawyers visited Uganda between May and June 1996.

“It is true that Ugandan lawyers are studying the issue,” Mr. Kirenga told the Monitor at the time.

The hunt has never been great.