Lawyer tasks DPP over Basajjabalaba’s delayed trial

DPP Jane Frances Abodo (L) and businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba. PHOTO/COMBO/FILE
 

What you need to know:

  • Mr Isaac Ssemakadde gives the chief government prosecutor up to July 8 to come up with a hearing schedule.

A lawyer has written to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), demanding to know why they have taken more than seven months without prosecuting the controversial Shs142b case against city businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba.

Mr Isaac Ssemakadde, the chief executive officer of Legal Brains Trust, in his June 30 letter, gives the chief government prosecutor up to July 8 to come up with a hearing schedule.

Also accused is the businessman’s brother, Mr Muzamiru Basajjabalaba.

“It’s more than seven months since the Supreme Court cleared this prosecution, yet there is no indication that the accused (the Basajjabalaba brothers), have been summoned to stand trial on expedited basis as required by the law and Uganda’s war on corruption,” Mr Ssemakadde wrote.

“Let us have a progress report from your office not later than July 8, 2022, if we do not hear from you by then, you are hereby notified of our intention to commence litigation to compel the DPP to perform her statutory duty or to undertake a private prosecution. In either case, we shall seek that you pay our legal costs,” he adds.

Efforts to reach out to the DDP officials were futile. Ms Irene Nakibungwe, the deputy public relations officer, on Saturday said she was to consult the relevant prosecutor handling the matter and get back to us but had not done so by press time yesterday.

In May 2018, the Constitutional Court directed that the Basajjabalaba brothers stand trial before the Anti-Corruption Court. The court argued that their trial wasn’t unconstitutional since the said charges fall under the ambit of the Anti-corruption Act.

The appeal

The Basajjabalaba brothers had challenged their prosecution before the Anti-Corruption Court, citing a number of constitutional breaches and had asked the Constitutional Court to quash it.
The businessman and his brother face several charges ranging from forgery of a judicial document to uttering of a false document and conspiracy to defeat tax laws.

Looking back
The charges arise from the government cancellation of his lease contracts to develop several markets and other facilities around Kampala City from which Mr  Hassan Basajjabalaba was compensated Shs142b for the loss.

However, after being compensated, a private citizen started a private prosecution of the businessmen, accusing him of defeating payment of taxes arising out of the huge compensation.

Likewise, Legal Brains Trust of Uganda sued Basajjabalaba alongside his five companies; Haba Group, Victoria International Trading Company, Sheila Investments, Yudaya International Limited and the First Merchant International Trading Company.

During the June 11 and June 13, 2019, hearings, court heard that between January 2000 and December 2011, Mr Basajjabalaba and his companies entered into contracts with KCC to manage, own and redevelop Owino, Nakasero and Shauliyako markets, and the Constitutional Square, but the said contracts were entered into without the advice of the Attorney General.

Unrest on the part of the traders led to a cancellation of the contracts, compelling the businessman to appeal to President Museveni, who referred the matter to the Attorney General.

An interdepartmental evaluation committee, which was set up to review Haba Group’s claims, recommended Shs54.7b compensation, but the then Attorney General, Mr Khiddu Makubuya, allegedly proposed a payment of compensation in the range of Shs142.7b and another of about Shs29.9b in respect of Nakawa market, which had never been part of the contracted markets.

During the hearings, Legal Brains Trust prayed for orders, directing Mr Basajjabalaba and his firms to return all the money they had been paid and commercial banks return money that they had been paid from the Consolidated Fund.