On 18th September, 2023, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) issued a caveat emptor notice warning the public against investing in unapproved investment schemes, one of which was Veta Plan Chicken.
Veta Plan Chicken, previously based at Plot 14/16 Semawatta Road, Ntinda, Kampala, had been actively inviting members of the public via its website and X (formerly Twitter) accounts to enter into investment contracts, promising passive income through participation in the poultry value chain. CMA’s investigations revealed that the company had collected over UGX 757,500,000 (Uganda Shillings Seven Hundred Fifty-Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand) from unsuspecting members of the public.
To preserve the status quo and protect investors’ funds, CMA promptly froze the company’s bank accounts and initiated efforts to have the funds collected refunded by Veta Plan. Despite initially committing to refund investors’ money, Veta Plan Chicken reneged on its obligations and ceased cooperation with the Authority. Consequently, CMA referred the matter to the Uganda Police, triggering criminal investigations that led to the arrest of the directors and one employee of the company from different parts of the country. Lugeleka Erric Taremwa (Director) was arrested on 30th June 2025 in Busia, at the Uganda-Kenya border, while Eve Gershom Tania (Director) and Bob Anthony Tumwebaze (Employee) were arrested on 2nd July 2025 in Kampala.
All three suspects were arraigned before the Buganda Road Court on 2nd July 2025, where they faced a total of 21 charges. The charges, brought by a prosecution team consisting of Ivan Kyazze from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and Joseph Magala Haumba, a CMA-delegated prosecutor, include offering securities to the public without CMA’s approval, contrary to sections 106 and 146(2) of the CMA Act Cap 64, and obtaining money by false pretenses, contrary to sections 284 and 285 of the Penal Code Act Cap 128.
‘CMA continues to urge members of the public to seek investment advice from licensed investment advisers or other legitimate professionals to make sound investment decisions and avoid falling victim to investment fraud. A comprehensive list of approved investment advisers and other service providers operating within Uganda’s capital markets industry, in relation to approved public investment opportunities, is available on the CMA website (www.cmauganda.co.ug),’ said Lyn Tukei, the Communications and Public Relations Manager at Capital Markets Authority.
About Capital Markets Authority
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of Uganda is a statutory body established in 1996, through the Capital Markets Authority Act (Cap 64), to promote, develop, and regulate the capital markets industry in Uganda.
The CMA Act prescribes the following as the functions of the Authority:
- To approve prospectuses and other offering documents under which securities are offered to the public and to approve information memorandum;
- To develop all aspects of the capital markets with particular emphasis on the removal of impediments to, and the creation of incentives for, long-term investments in productive enterprise;
- To create, maintain and regulate, through implementation of a system in which the market participants are self-regulatory to the maximum practicable extent, a market in which securities can be issued and traded in an orderly, fair, and efficient manner;
- To cooperate with, provide information to, conduct any investigation or inquiry for, or otherwise assist any foreign regulatory authority in the performance of its duties;
- To implement regional and international standards and best practices in securities markets, securities regulation, and supervision;
- To protect investor interests; and
- To operate the Investor Compensation Fund established by section 81.
CMA executes its legal mandate with the following objectives:
- Promoting confidence in the capital markets
- Ensuring honesty and transparency in capital markets transactions
- Carrying out investor education
- Protecting investors; and
- Reducing systemic risk
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