Basajjabalaba chats with Soroti Municipality MP Mike Mukula in court. PHOTO/Maria Wamala
Basajjabalaba granted bail
Publish Date: Jan 18, 2013
The Anti-corruption Court has granted beleagured businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba cash bail sh60m while his five sureties were bonded at sh20b not cash.
Chief Magistrate, Irene Akankwasa granted bail to the beleaguered businessman, saying there was no evidence he snubbed Police summons over charges of forging a consent judgment, as the prosecution had said.
She noted that although the Police issued summons, they should have been served to the suspect.
Akankwasa also rejected assertions by the State that Basajjabalaba was running away on the day he was arrested at Entebbe Airport.
“He should be given chance to benefit from bail, but with stringent conditions,” she said. Akankwasa also ordered Basajjabalaba to deposit his passport with court.
Basajjabalaba is accused of forging a consent judgment which shielded him from paying sh20.1bn in taxes accruing from his sh142bn compensation for city markets.
Prosecution on Wednesday opposed Basajjabalaba’s bail application, saying he was likely to flee the country.
Elusive Basajjabalaba sent to Luzira prison
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Elusive-Basajjabalaba-sent-to-Luzira-prison/-/688334/1667654/-/ye1g92z/-/index.htmlBy ANTHONY WESAKA
Posted Thursday, January 17 2013 at 02:50
In Summary
Reversed fortunes. Businessman charged with
fraud as DPP cancels private prosecutionBusinessman Hassan Basajjabalaba was last evening charged afresh with fraud arising from the payment of Shs142 billion in compensation by the government, and remanded to Luzira prison.
Mr Basajjabalaba appeared in the Anti-Corruption Court after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) asked the Buganda Road Court to nullify an earlier private prosecution attempt over the same offence, saying the move was suspicious.
“The DPP, who has the mandate to prosecute public matters, this morning, (yesterday morning), successfully applied to the Buganda Road Court and the private prosecution charges were withdrawn. We shall now continue with the matter as a public prosecution,” said Ms Jane Kajuga Akuo, the DPP’s spokesperson.
“The DPP had sanctioned the charges against Mr Basajjabalaba last year and the police were looking for him. We were shocked to hear on Tuesday that he had been charged under a private prosecution.”
The private prosecution bid, she said, could have been intended to “frustrate and avoid the public prosecution by the DPP, since they are similar charges”.
Ms Kajuga said they were considering investigating the motive of the private prosecution, since it was well-known that the DPP had sanctioned criminal charges against Mr Basajjabalaba.
She asked why the businessman, who had not responded to police summons since last year, had swiftly responded to the Buganda Road Court summons issued on Monday to have him privately prosecuted.
The private prosecution had been instituted by an advocate, Mr Allan Mulindwa.
Mr Basajjabalaba denied the charges and was released on a cash bail of Shs30 million, but was arrested later at Entebbe Airport, as he tried to leave the country.
He has been charged with uttering a false document, forgery of a judicial document and conspiracy to defeat tax laws, the same charges that were read to him yesterday in the Anti-Corruption Court.
According to the charge sheet at the Anti-Corruption Court, Mr Basajjabalaba and his younger brother, Mr Muzamiru Basajjabalaba, the director of HABA Group, between 2010 and 2011, conspired to prevent or defeat the execution or enforcement of tax laws, evading taxes amounting toShs20 million. The money arose from the compensation by the government to his company.
The prosecution also alleges that on or about October 6, last year, he forged a consent judgement purporting to have been entered into between his company HABA and the Attorney General, agreeing that the payment of Shs142 billion would not be subjected to any taxes.
He denied the charges and Chief Magistrate Irene Akankwasa remanded him until 2pm today, to determine his bail application.
The decision could not be made yesterday, as the prosecution told court that it needed time to scrutinise the papers of his five sureties.
The State prosecutor, Ms Lillian Omara, said one of the sureties’ papers were questionable, as they had two LC letters from different places.
The businessman has been elusive, failing to honour countless police summons until he was picked at Entebbe International Airport
Basajjabalaba pays Shs60 million to secure bail
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Elusive-Basajjabalaba-sent-to-Luzira-prison/-/688334/1667654/-/item/1/-/ehiw7oz/-/index.html
By ANTHONY WESAKA
Posted Friday, January 18 2013 at 13:40
Posted Friday, January 18 2013 at 13:40
Mr
Basajjabala was bailed by Chief Magistrate, Irene Akankwasa of the Anti- Corruption Court
in Kampala.
While
granting him bail, Ms Akankwasa concurred with the submission of the defense
lawyers that there is no evidence that the businessman will abscond from court.
“The
law demands that the police criminal summons be served personally to the
suspect. There is no evidence that the police served him personally,” said the
magistrate.
She
said it is not true that the accused was running away since he had been granted
bail by Buganda Road Court.
She
said: “He will be given bail but on stringent conditions. The accused is
released on a cash bail of Shs60 million, his sureties are each bonded at a
non- cash of Shs4 billion.”
The
magistrate also ordered Basajjabalaba to deposit his passport at the court.
Moments
after the businessman was granted bail, his relatives and friends jubilated
outside court.
The
businessman is facing charges of alleged forgery of a consent document which
led to the government paying him Shs142 billion.
Similarly,
court issued criminal summons to his brother Mr Muzamiru Basajjabalaba who is
on the run to appear before court on January 28 to plead to the same charges.
