Robert Twinomujuni, a well-known businessman in the city, was accused of forging a land sale agreement in the southwest Ntungamo District and was sent to Luzira Prisons.
Mr Twinomujuni, the owner of Ideal Hostels, was arrested and held at the Central Police Station (CPS) in Kampala.
He was charged on Friday at Buganda Road Magistrate’s Court.
In addition, he is accused of forging national identity cards, uttering a fake document, and forging an acknowledgement of receipt of funds from the land sale agreement.
In the municipality of Kabale, which borders Ntungamo to the south, he is co-accused alongside 43-year-old Samson Arinaitwe, a self-employed inhabitant of Nyakahita Cell in Kigongi Ward, Central Division.
Arinaitwe was reportedly remained at large according to the state.
Chief Magistrate Ronald Kayizzi, the presiding magistrate, remanded Twinomujuni till this Thursday when he will attend for the hearing and bail application determination. This was done in court on Friday.
Although the prosecution, led by Ms Joan Keko, had requested at least four working days to confirm the specifics of the sureties and the documents they had submitted, the defence had already produced five sureties.
“Your worship, when one furnishes a letter from the Local Council (LC) [leadership], it is not [a] gospel truth,” Ms Keko said. “The defense has overloaded us with documents that we need to speak authoritatively to.” Therefore, we must confirm.
“We have discovered forged documents,” she continued. We ask for a few days so we can confirm. Given that they (certainties) are in Kampala, we won’t need much time. We offer up prayers through at least Thursday.
Max Mutabingwa, the defense attorney, protested, arguing that the state lacked legal justification for its request and that it was unnecessary to spend time verifying the sureties’ specifics and supporting paperwork.
He counter-argued that prosecution was “playing with the freedom of an individual”, in this case the accused, demanding that his client be released on bail.
The businessman, Twinomujuni, had cited ill-health among reasons for seeking to be freed on bail.
Court also heard that the charges against the accused were already pending before the Mbarara High Court, a circuit which covers Ntungamo where the alleged crime was committed.
After listening to both parties, Chief Magistrate ruled that:
“This court has heard so many cases of professional sureties. Considering the nature of the case and the counts (charges), I find it fair and just that the state be given the four working days to verify the documents presented and all the adjournments.”
This website understands that the suit land reportedly belongs to relatives of high-profile leaders from Ruhama constituency in Ntungamo District, prompting police to suspend its Land Protection Unit boss on allegations of mismanaging the dispute.
The law enforcement agency has opened separate investigations into any role played by staff at the Office of the Administrator General.
Specifics of charges
The charge sheet shows that on June 16, 2020 in Kampala District, Samson Arinaitwe forged a land sale agreement dated June 6, 2020 in respect of leasehold land comprised at Rwampara Block 42, Plot 38, in Ntungamo District’s Ruhama constituency.
That he purported to make the agreement in his capacity as the administrator of the said land and forged the signatures of Simon Nsekanabo, Winfred Musimenta, Richard Apollo Rutaro, Edith Busingye, Prudence Namara, Beatrice Kisembo Rugarama and Betty Rugarama.
The state alleges that on February 18, 2021 at Ntungamo Police Station in Ntungamo District, Arinaitwe and Robert Twinomujuni knowingly and fraudulently uttered a false document; to wit, a forged sales agreement dated June 6, 2020 purporting to have been signed by Nsekanabo, Musimenta, Rutaro, Busingye, Namara, Kisembo and Rugarama.
It is alleged that between the months of June and December 2020 in the districts of Kampala, Ntungamo and Kabale, Arinaitwe and others still at large forged acknowledgement of receipt of money purporting that Kisembo, Nsekanabo, Musimenta, Namara, Rugarama and Rutaro received proceeds from the sale of land comprised in Rwampara whereas not.
The state further alleges that Arinaitwe forged national Identity cards of Kisembo, Nsekanabo, Musimenta, Namara, Rugarama and Rutaro.
Prosecution avers that between June and December 2020, in Kampala and Ntungamo districts, Arinaitwe and Twinomujuni conspired together to defraud Namara Prudence and others of their beneficial interest/share on land comprised in Rwampara Block 42 plot 42, leasehold register volume 3027, Folio 9, for land in Ruhama, Ntungamo District.
