Clerk under fire over release of Malong

The Judiciary is investigating a senior court clerk attached to the Court of Appeal on allegations that she doctored a judgment release order involving a convicted South Sudan gold dealer, Lawrence Malong Laul Yor.

Ms Jane Apio is accused of generating a fake release judgment order for Malong on January 13 this year.

Malong, a famous socialite and business tycoon, is known for posting photographs of himself with bundles of US dollars.

The Assistant Registrar, Mr Henry Twinomuhwezi, who signed off the questionable release order has been transferred to the Commercial Court, which is a lower court than where he had been.

“Yes, the court clerk in question is being investigated by the Inspector of Courts and whatever finding the Inspector of Courts comes up with, she will be punished accordingly if found culpable, “Ms Sarah Langa Siu, the Chief Registrar said on Sunday by telephone.

Ms Apio in the  release  claimed the appeal of Malong, in  which he was challenging his three-year conviction and sentence by Anti-Corruption Court judge; Lawrence Gidudu, had been quashed and set aside.

She added that Malong should be released with immediate effect from prison unless held on lawful charges.

However, the true version of the judgment order was to the effect that Malong’s appeal had been quashed though his sentence lessened from three years to two years.

The justices of the court clarified that since at the time of their judgment Malong had served the equivalent of the reduced sentence,  he was entitled to be released from prison unless held on lawful conviction.

On February 9, the court issued a correct version of the judgment release order, and recalled the earlier one dated January 13.

“The appeal against conviction is dismissed. The finding of the conviction in respect to courts 1,3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10 are hereby confirmed,” the correct version of the judgment order read in part.

Adding: “By this order, the order dated January 13th 2023, in respect to A1 (Malong) is recalled/cancelled,”

Ms Apio has since conceded her misdeed and written an apology to Justice Gidudu.

“My Lord, I drafted this order as I normally do, but after that incident of Malong’s false allegations, I realised that I forgot to delete the sentence that read ‘conviction and sentence quashed’ and leave the sentence to only read ‘order immediate release from custody,” Ms Apio wrote in her February 7 apology letter.

Assistant Registrar Twinomuhwezi, who in his defense concedes to have signed off the extracted order presented to him by the clerk without reading the contents of the judgment, has  also apologised to Justice Gidudu.

“Hon. Justice Lawrence Gidudu on the 25th day of January, 2023 called me asking why I appended my signature on a false document. I requested for a copy of the release order I signed and judgment. Upon reading, I discovered that what I signed was not in tandem with what the judgment was saying,” registrar Twinomuhwezi’s apology dated February 3,  reads in part.

Adding: “Upon realising the mistake, I summoned the lawyer and the state attorneys to appear before me on the 6th of February, 2023 but unfortunately, I have since been transferred with immediate effect. I do sincerely tender my apologies to Hon. Justice Lawrence Gidudu and the entire Judiciary for the omission and error my action may have occasioned.”

While addressing a meeting of court users last Friday, Justice Gidudu denied allegations by Malong that he asked for a bribe of $400, 000 (about Shs1.4b) and that when he refused, he convicted him and sentenced him to three years, but the Court of Appeal overturned his decision, which position the judge said is not true.

 “Convicted prisoners have decided to fight back. As the saying goes, corruption fights back and when it does, it fights ferociously and dirty. The gutter press has recently provided a platform for convicted criminals to claim innocence by uttering forged documents to say that they were convicted because they refused to offer bribes and that they were acquitted by the appellate courts whereas not,” Justice Gidudu said.

He added: “I want to assure our stake holders and my colleagues that the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and only reduced the prison term to a period where the convicts were deemed to have served their sentences. But true to their character as fraudsters, the convicts obtained a forged order reading conviction had been quashed and the sentence set aside in order to generate a false story that money had been solicited by the trial judge and when they refused to pay, he convicted them.”

Malong and two others underwent trial before Justice Gidudu who convicted him and sentenced him to three years imprisonment.

He was facing 10 charges of money laundering

He was found guilty of enticing an Ethiopian, WG Dessic and his friend Abebe Belay Engda with a fake gold deal in Juba, South Sudan worth $1.9m but failed to deliver the said gold to them as promised.

Malong appealed to the Court of Appeal that lessened his jail term to two years and also reduced the compensation order from $1, 092,000 to $419, 089.

By the time of passing judgment, he had spent two years already.