The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Ntoroko, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Fort Portal Chief Magistrates court has remanded the Ntoroko District Chief Administrative Officer Anslem Kyaligonza to prison for two weeks. The Chief Magistrate Kule Lubangula made the ruling after State Attorney Andrew Kasaija asked the court to reject Kyaligonza’s bail application on grounds that there are pending charges against him.
Kyaligonza had appeared before the Chief Magistrates court for a ruling on his bail application after being slapped with 10 counts of forgery on Tuesday. The prosecution told the court that in Feb and March 2021, Kyaligonza recruited ten staff using forged extracts from the minutes of the District Service Commission and irregularly added them to the district payroll contrary to sections 342 and 347 of the Penal Code Act.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges and applied for bail through his lawyer, Victor Businge on grounds of health complications and the fact that he had not yet been proven guilty before any competent court of law. However, State Attorney Andrew Kasaija objected to the bail application on grounds that there were ongoing investigations into other cases against the accused, adding that he might jeopardize the investigations given his position.
In his ruling, Kule concurred with the state and remanded the accused to Katojo prison until June 21, 2022. “I find it fair, just and in the interest of justice that the submissions of the learned state attorney and those put forward by the learned counsel of the accused, but I take on and uphold the submissions of the learned state attorney and not grant the bail as applied for, any aggrieved party has a right to appeal against this ruling. The prayer for leave to appeal is also granted since it hasn’t been objected to by the state attorney. It being a constitutional right, I hear by grant leave of court to the learned counsel of the accused to appeal against this ruling,” he ruled.
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