As depot manager for Nile Agro Industries at Mukwano Mall, Ashish Patel seemed to have it all.
Everyday, the 36 year old signed for and stored cooking oil, laundry soap, and wheat flour that arrived from Jinja. In turn, he was supposed to sell them honestly and deposit the money into the company’s bank account.
But in the course of two years, something went wrong. Terribly wrong.
From May 2022 to October 2024, goods started disappearing from the depot. We are not talking about a few bags of wheat but whole truckloads of goods.
When the company finally did a proper audit, they found a shocking truth: items worth Shs 1.8 billion were gone. Swiii. The company auditor discovered that there were empty spaces in the warehouse, and some of the receipt books in Patel’s possession were forged.
So all along, Patel had been lying to his bosses. It was discovered that he had given huge amounts of goods to friends, sold them secretly, and even transferred Shs 400 million worth of goods to another depot run by his colleague.
He often told customers they could pay later, even though the company had a strict “No credit” policy. Worst of all, when sales staff brought cash, Patel sometimes deposited it into his relatives’ accounts instead of the company’s.
When bosses first asked why stock was missing, Patel first begged for time. Later, when his balls were squeezed, Patel promised to pay back Shs 1.8 billion in one year. He admitted that he had stolen some of the money to help his relatives who were badly off.
The company called the police, and Patel was arrested and taken to court.
In court, the evidence against Patel was clear. The company auditor’s report showed exactly how much was stolen. Company records proved Patel had received the goods, and in his own statement to police, he admitted the theft.
The court found him guilty of theft and sentenced him to six years in prison. He was also ordered to repay the full Shs 1.8 billion within three years after release.
Patel appealed the ruling, saying the trial was not fair. He claimed the magistrate closed his defence too early and would not let him bring a police witness. He said the audit report should not have been allowed because the auditor was not formally appointed.
In October, Justice Isaac Muwata listened to and read everything about the case. He decided the trial was fair. He said the magistrate had given Patel many chances and extra time to bring witnesses. Muwata said the audit report was proper because it came from a qualified expert.
Muwata agreed that Patel indeed stole the money with the intent to keep it.
But the judge conceeded that the six year sentence in addition to the huge repayment was too harsh for a first-time offender like Patel
He reduced the prison time to four years but maintained he must repay everything, I mean the Shs 1.8 billion.
So Patel, once a trusted manager of Nile Agro Industries, now sleeps in a cell at Luzira Prison. May be if he had not been tempted to steal the money, he could have been a senior manager within the company, sitting in a plush office.
Honesty, it appears, is the only way to keep what you have been given and to earn more.
