Former Minister of Homeland Security Uladi Mussa has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court over his five-year sentence given by the High Court.

Mussa, alongside former Regional Immigration Officer David Kwanjana were sentenced to five years imprisonment for breaching public trust and issuing of passports illegally to foreign nationals.

But Mussa`s lawyer Paul Maulidi said he has appealed the sentence on behalf of his client on the basis that the State did not provide enough evidence for Mussa to be convicted.

“Yes indeed we have submitted our notice of appeal, in short I will simply say we are saying that the evidence is not enough to secure a conviction and the sentences which were imposed manifestly excessive in the circumstances.”

“Because the evidence did not establish the truthful cases of abuse of office or being influenced to do whatever was done,” said Maulidi.

He also said that Mussa has added more lawyers to defend his case.

“According to the Constitution, every person has got the right to choose lawyers of his choice, there is no limit, what it is important is that I am the lead Counsel.”

“If you are many you can share ideas and assist each other mind you even the appeal itself, you are expecting not less than 7 or 9 Judges because they have to share ideas on how the case is going, equally, we also do the same as lawyers,” said Maulidi.

The offences were committed in 2014 and all the accused were arrested in 2017 by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for granting citizenships to Rwandan and Burundian nationals.