Gold deal: Police arrest Kulayigye accuser
Mr Richard Kamugisha
KAMPALA- Police have arrested the man who accused the UPDF chief political commissar, Col Felix Kulayigye, of ransacking his office and harassing his staff after a gold transaction went bad last Friday.
Mr Richard Kamugisha, the managing director of Matrich Holdings, was arrested on Wednesday moments after he reported at Kampala Central Police Station to record a statement.
Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman Patrick Onyango confirmed the arrest, saying “Mr Kamugisha is being held on charges of obtaining money by false pretence in the gold transaction.”
“We recorded his statement, but there are issues he didn’t answer to our satisfaction. So we chose to keep him in detention,” he said yesterday.
His arrest brings the number of Matrich Holdings staff in police custody to four with a Congolese, the gold seller still at large.
Last Thursday, Mr Kamugisha claimed Col Kulayigye’s niece, Ms Brenda Murungi, approached him with a Congolese man whom she introduced as a gold seller to ascertain if he could test the gold before she could purchase it.
Mr Kamugisha said the two were charged Shs667,000 for the tests and the gold purity was confirmed at 96 per cent.
The gold, according to Mr Kamugisha was handed back to the Congolese man with Ms Murungi paying Shs166.5m leaving a balance of Shs33.3m.
“The Congolese told her if he would keep the gold until she pays the remaining $10,000 and they left my office with their gold. The next day, I heard from her was that the Congolese had now handed her a bag containing pavers. How the gold turned into pavers after we had tested is not my business,” Mr Kamugisha said.
It is at this point that Ms Murungi contacted Mr Kamugisha, asking him for the whereabouts of the Congolese before involving her business partner and relative Col Kulayigye.
Mr Kamugisha said Col Kulayigye and army officers stripped workers at his officer before bundling them onto a police patrol car, an allegation Col Kulayigye denies.
