MPs ask Interpol to arrest man with 700 land titles

Lawmakers investigating irregularities in the acquisition or repossession of departed Asians’ properties by individuals and companies are set to request for services of Interpol to arrest a key witness who is on the run.

Mr Muhammad Allibhai, a Ugandan Asian, is wanted by the police trying to execute a warrant issued by the MPs on the taskforce of the Committee on Commission, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) on March 11 after he declined to appear in Parliament on several occasions when invited.

Through his company, Alderbridge Real Estates and Management Limited, Mr Allibhai is allegedly holding more than 700 land titles for properties that were expropriated when the owners were expelled by President Idi Amin in 1972.

Petitions received by MPs from Ugandans who had been allocated some of the properties by the Departed Asians Properties Custodian Board (DAPCB), and from former owners who met MPs in Canada and UK in January, accuse Mr Allibhai of forging documents to acquire the said properties.

The properties under probe include buildings and land across the country whereas Kampala alone has 332 buildings against his name.

However, since March 11, detectives attached to Parliamentary Police Unit have failed to apprehend Mr Allibhai and there are reports that the tycoon might have fled the country upon reading in the press about the issuance of a warrant of arrest.

“We are still looking for Mr Muhammad Alhibhai and he should use this chance to show up and testify. But if he does not voluntarily appear now, we will involve Interpol to arrest him because we have a clue of the country where he is hiding ” said Mr Ibrahim Kasozi (Makindye East, FDC), the task force chairperson.

Mr Kasozi, said Mr Allibhai still has a chance to write to the Clerk to Parliament indicating when he would voluntarily come to testify and if he honours that, the warrant will be canceled.

The taskforce whose work was suspended in mid-March as Parliament adjusted its programmes in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak in the country, has been granted permission to resume its probe during the House recess starting next week.

ALlIBHAI’S WOES

Mr Allibhai last appeared before the MPs on September 11, 2019, in his capacity as Chairman of the Association of Expropriated Properties Owners Limited where he confessed that he was managing more than 400 properties and had sold some of them on instructions of the original proprietors who are in Canada.
He told MPs that after returning to Uganda in 1987, he was three years later given powers of attorney by owners to help in the repossession process because they were scattered in Canada and the United Kingdom.
But, when more people petitioned the taskforce and his name regularly featured in alleged forceful acquisition of properties, Mr Allibhai turned down invitations to testify in his individual capacity.