Lawyers of the Inspector General of Government (IGG) led by Brenda Kimbugwe have asked the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court to place former Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) boss and wife on defense over their Shs6bn wealth.

In their submission on case to answer, Kimbugwe told Court that Umar Katongole, a former UNRA engineer stationed at Hoima and Moyo mismanaged his public office together with his wife Hawa Sengendo and committed the offence of illicit enrichment.

She told Court that Katongole joined UNRA in 2008. While there, he worked as an Assistant Engineer and got a monthly pay of Shs2.5m.

When he was promoted to the position of station engineer, his monthly pay was increased to Shs4.7m.

However, between April 2011 and August 2015, the accused persons deposited a total of Shs2.8bn in the Tropical Bank which was too much compared to Katongole’s monthly pay and that of his wife who was a community development officer in Luwero district.

Kimbugwe further submitted to court that their investigation based on the evidence from Brian Ashabaahebwa and Nassir Mwanje who revealed that the accused persons own properties worth Shs6bn which does not commensurate with their income.

She pleaded with Court to place the accused persons on defence becasue the State has proven their case.

However, Aggrey Bwire the defense lawyer rubbished the State’s prayer and asked Court to exonerate his client insisting that State failed to prove any case against his clients.

By Grapevine reporter

The mighty Grapevine has exclusively learnt that very soon, some top city lawyers are likely to face arrest over Kampala District Land Board chairperson David Balondemu’s alleged forged medical letters.

Highly placed sources at police’s Directorate of Criminal Investigation(CID) have revealed that last week, Jackson Tweheyo on behalf of Maj. Dr. Tom Magambo the CID Director summoned lawyers Caleb Alaka, Evans Ochieng, Hassan Kamba, Fred Mukasa Mbidde, Robert Bautu to appear before the State House Anti-Corruption Unity to record statements on allegation of forging a medical letter.

The lawyers were supposed to appear before the Department of Economic Fraud and Anti-Corruption on 28^th of November 2023 but they all snubbed the summons.

However, when contacted, lawyer Alaka rubbished the allegation of face arrest explaining that he personally hasn’t yet been summoned but his friend Bautu told him that he was summoned to appear before State House Anti-Corruption Unit.

Counsel Alaka, a Criminal law giant explained that the State House Anti-Corruption Unit under the command of Brig. Gen. Henry Isoke doesn’t have powers to summon a lawyer on grounds of offences committed by his client.

“They are not serious, Advocates are Officers of Court. We are just helping court to deliver justice. For us we just represent clients. They are the ones who give us documents including local council letters. So, we are not the ones authorising those documents,” Alaka noted.

theGrapevine has learnt that lawyer Bautu wrote to State House Anti-Corruption Department explaining why they will not appear to record the said statements.

He noted that they have the privilege to present the documents given to them by their client to a judicial officer and thus are not answerable for those documents.

Buganda Road State Attorney Ivan Kyazze brought to the attention of the presiding magistrate in Balondemu’s bail application Winnie Nankya that the accused person with the help of his lawyers forged medical letters from Kampala Hospital.

He presented the affidavit of Dr. Peter Kibuka the Kampala Hospital Chief Executive Officer denying the said letter noting that it was not authored from his hospital.

The letter presented by lawyers indicated that Balondemu, who is battling multibillion fraud cases was supposed to have a surgical operations in the very week the application came before the magistrate.

Highly placed sources at State House Anti-Corruption Unit told theGrapevine that the detectives were set to arrest the said lawyers last week but all of them run into hiding.

The said lawyers were added on the list of over 50 city lawyers who are under investigation on allegations of abetting fraud and corruption.

Among the lawyers who is set to be arrested before Christmas is one working with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) who issued a bribe of Shs70m to a top politician at City Hall to be given a juicy job.

State alleges that Balondemu, Erick Geoffrey Mkwe, Joseph Ibona  together with others still at large fraudulently obtain Shs2.2bn from the American company KG Unlimited under the guise of awarding them a contract of supplying agricultural drone sprayers and fertilizers in the Ministry of Agriculture.

Sources at the State House Anti-Corruption Unit said that Balodemu has two already sanctioned criminal files by Justice Jane Frances Abodo the Director Public Prosecution and 15 other files have not yet been sanctioned even though investigations are done.

By Sengooba Alirabaki

Rwizi Region Police detectives have kicked off investigations into the matter involving two men netted at Mbarara Referral Hospital on accusations of stealing the corpses from the hospital.

The accused who include Robert Mucunguzi, an employee at Urban Funeral Services and Andrew Ainomugisha of Miles Funeral Services were arrested at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital yesterday morning.

Currently held at Mbarara Central Police, we have established that they were nabbed by the hospital security team in the process of coercing clients who lose their loved ones to take them to their funeral homes.

Halson Kagure, the Head of Communication and Public Relations at Mbarara Referral Hospital said that they have heard about cases of bodies leaving the ward without passing through the mortuary which he says is outside normal procedures.

According to Kagure, the duo was apprehended by the hospital security team which was recently tasked by the Hospital Director Dr. Celestine Barigye to investigate the matter to its logical conclusion.

Recently, Dr. Celestine Barigye who also doubles as the Director of Health Services in the region was attending one of the talk shows where he expressed dissatisfaction on the persons who are charged upon losing their dear ones.

The no-nonsense Barigye is said to have threatened to fire his employees working in Pathology Department should the vice continue. But, in their defense, they blamed it on private funeral homes which deploy agents to decamping mortuary services yet MRRH is one of few hospitals with functional mortuary.

Suspects being taken to Mbarara Central Police

So, when the accused persons were arrested, Dr. Barigye is said to have directed the Hospital Public Relations Officer (PRO) Halson Kagure and Senior Hospital Administrator (SHA) Francis Ojom to handle the matter.

Mr. Ojom Francis accused the owners of Funeral homes of soiling the name of the hospital by saying that mortuary services are paid for.

According to Ojom, mortuary services are free of charge and in fact suspects admitted to being used to force relatives to ditch the mortuary and go to funeral homes.

That their pay masters give them a commission worth Shs.200,000  per body.

Halson Kagure says that these people go ahead deceiving the members of the public that mortuary services are charged Shs.500,000 which he says is false.

Furthermore, according to Kagure, every patient who dies within the facility is supposed to be recorded.

Kagure explains that when a person dies in the ward, a medical certificate of cause of death is supposed to be issued out by medical personnel and then the body is prepared by the last office in a dignified manner prior to being sent to the mortuary.

Dr. Raymond Atwine the Head of Pathology Department at Mbarara says that in the mortuary, the body is treated, recorded and then postmortem is performed in case the relative or the state requests.

Kagure adds that when all processes are done, the gate pass is processed and issued out to the relatives to the deceased as an indication that it is allowed to be transferred from one place to another.

A medical certificate of cause of death is supposed to be taken to the Medical Records Department (MRD) which a Medical Records Officer bases on to issue out a short death notification, a prerequisite to get a death certificate from NIRA.

It should however be noted that there are some people who die of infectious diseases that need special treatment in a separate mortuary.

But, these agents not only violate guidelines put in place to handle the dead but may also risk lives of the surrounding people.

The suspects have been taken to police and according to Samson Kasasira, the Rwizi Region Police Spokesman the general enquiry file has been opened.

Kasasira warned owners of funeral homes on bending the right procedures of accessing bodies from the hospital adding that detectives will extract vital information to help them apprehend whoever has been involved in this vice.

By Grapevine Correspondents