Former Kenyan Assistant Minister for Internal Security, Stephen Tarus, is presently in Ugandan custody, facing allegations of gold smuggling using counterfeit documents. Mr. Tarus was apprehended last week and appeared before a Ugandan anti-corruption court on Wednesday, accused of falsifying export documents, as disclosed by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA). The URA highlighted that the utilization of fraudulent trade documentation resulted in considerable financial losses for the Ugandan government.
The charges against Mr. Tarus are specific to the forgery of export documents pertaining to 13 kilograms of gold with a value of $30,000 (£24,000). The URA suspects that the gold was intended for Dubai as part of an illicit smuggling operation.
Pending further investigations, Mr. Tarus is remanded at Luzira prison until January 18. As of now, he has refrained from making any statements regarding the allegations.
Aged 57, Mr. Tarus, who previously served as an assistant minister under the late President Mwai Kibaki and held the position of Kenya’s high commissioner to Australia from 2009 to 2012, also served as a Member of Parliament between 2003 and 2007.
The case has garnered attention due to the high-profile nature of Mr. Tarus’ political background and the gravity of the charges he faces in connection to the alleged gold smuggling operation.
