Ugandan businessman denied bail again in forged land title case
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Allons Ssemakula MC Cright, accused of using forged transfer documents to acquire a land title in Wakiso District, has been remanded to 25 November after a third failed bail application at Kira Magistrates' Court.
A 40-year-old businessman accused of fraudulently acquiring a land title using forged documents has for the third time failed to secure bail from the Kira Magistrates' Court in Wakiso District.
Grade One Magistrate Susan Anyeku declined to grant bail to Allons Ssemakula MC Cright, citing his legal team's failure to follow up on a police file that was recalled by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) following complaints raised by the accused himself.
Ssemakula, who was initially remanded on 5 October, reappeared in court to seek temporary release pending trial. The magistrate questioned why the defence had renewed its bail application without first establishing the status of the case file. "And they said the police file was called on your complaint. So how do you start your bail application again when, on your complaint, the police file has been called?" she told the accused, noting that his lawyer, Ms Sheila Tumwine, had been instructed to track the file.
The businessman had previously applied for bail on 19 October, but the application was halted after the court was informed that the DPP had recalled the file to review the complaints raised by the defence. The matter was adjourned to 4 November but could not proceed because the file had not been returned.
According to the charge sheet, Ssemakula and other suspects still at large face four counts of forgery and uttering false documents in connection with land belonging to Mr Joseph Bugyendu Ndeze. On the first count, he and his alleged accomplices are accused of forging a land transfer form in Wakiso District on 10 May 2010, purporting it to have been signed by Mr Ndeze, while the second count alleges that on the same date they forged a consent land transfer form bearing Mr Ndeze's signature. Both forgery counts are preferred under Sections 319 and 324 of the Penal Code Act.
On the third count, Ssemakula is individually accused of uttering a false document, contrary to Section 328 of the Penal Code Act, with the prosecution alleging that on 28 August 2012 at the Lands Office in Wakiso District he knowingly and fraudulently presented the forged consent land transfer form to the land registry. The fourth count accuses him of knowingly presenting the forged land transfer form at the same office on the same date.
Magistrate Anyeku further remanded him until 25 November, when the hearing of the case is scheduled to commence. Under Uganda's criminal justice system, an accused person remains innocent until proven guilty by a competent court.