Uganda's former VP in corruption court

Uganda's former vice president Gilbert Bukenya on Thursday appeared in court on corruption charges at the start of the highest-profile graft case in the country in recent years. Bukenya headed an organising committee for the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and is accused of having made $4 million by inflating the rental prices of fleets of vehicles used to ferry visiting VIPs. Bukenya, who was vice president for eight years before being dismissed in a cabinet reshuffle in May, pleaded not guilty at Kampala's Anti-Corruption Court. Magistrate Sarah Langa granted him bail against payment of $21,000. "He pleaded not guilty and was granted bail," defence lawyer Macdusman Kabega told AFP, adding: "He was ordered to surrender his passport." The next hearing will be on June 30. Bukenya is the only minister to be charged with corruption relating to the Commonwealth event despite several other high-ranking officials being implicated in the scandal. Former security minister Amama Mbabazi, who was promoted to prime minister last month, and current Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa were also named in the parliamentary report on the scandal that implicated Bukenya. Both deny any wrongdoing.