Uganda, Feb. 17 -- The proprietors of a Qatar-based firm are in distress after losing $306,950 (about Shs1.2b) to Ugandan fraudsters in a scam involving two law firms, employees of Parliament, a former high-ranking official in President Museveni's cabinet, and some security agents.

The fraudsters, passing off as procurement officers of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), tricked the Doha-based Ascend Group into remitting the funds as a precondition for the award of a $120 million (about Shs464.4 billion) contract that never was.

The purported contract was for the construction of five technical schools in Busunju, Garuga, Wakiso, Pader and Nampungwe. The fraudsters claimed this was part of a "presidential initiative projects' ...