Hawa Mbabazi, who worked as a cashier at Uganda Central Cooperative Financial Services (UCCFS) on Nkrumah Road, appeared before Magistrate Winnie Nankya Jatiko and denied all five charges of theft brought against her.

Prosecutors allege that Mbabazi stole 18 million shillings belonging to John Ssenfuma, 980,000 shillings from Jonathan Turyamureeba, 700,000 shillings from Annet Natono and 550,000 shillings from Sarah Atwine.

She is also accused of taking 57.015 million shillings from UCCFS Community Cooperative Savings.

Together, the alleged losses amount to 77.245 million Ugandan shillings, or more than 25 million Rwandan francs.

According to UCCFS Managing Director Brian Twesigye, Mbabazi joined the institution in April 2018. Her job involved receiving deposits from customers and processing payments for those making withdrawals.

Twesigye told the court that the institution had daily checks in place to ensure that the cash in its branches matched the transactions recorded.

The branch manager, Shaina Nayebale, was responsible for supervising Mbabazi’s work, and the company had not previously reported any missing money involving her.

The alleged theft was discovered on April 28, 2026, at around 10:26am, when Mbabazi met with the institution’s cashier, Jennifer Kyompire.

Court heard that Mbabazi admitted she had been withdrawing money from some customers’ accounts without their authorisation. She was also accused of receiving deposits from customers without depositing the money into their accounts.

At first, the amount believed to be missing was put at 46.345 million shillings.

Management then asked Mbabazi to explain in writing what had happened, including identifying the customers whose accounts had allegedly been affected.

Twesigye said the institution later reviewed the accounts together with Mbabazi and confirmed that the money was missing.

When asked where the money had gone, Mbabazi reportedly said she had used it to cover earlier shortages linked to her work handling cash and paying customers.

The institution subsequently reported the matter to police.

Mbabazi has denied the allegations. Her lawyer asked the court for a short adjournment to allow the defence to prepare an application seeking her temporary release on bail.

However, because the prosecution representative was not present in court, the magistrate ordered that Mbabazi remain in custody at Luzira Prison.

She is expected to return to court on November 12, 2026.

The allegations against Mbabazi have not been proven in court, and she remains presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.