Former Kyadondo East MP Kantinti sent to Luzira over bank loan

The former Member of Parliament for Kyadondo East Apollo Kantinti has been arrested and sent to Luzira Prison over failure to pay a bank loan.

The NilePost has learnt that the former legislator got a loan from Standard Chartered Bank in June 2016 amounting to Shs 300million, a figure he had to clear in 50 instalments over three years, ending 2019, with an interest rate of 25%.

In late 2017, Kantinti started to default on the loan repayments and at the time of his arrest, Kantinti had an unpaid balance of Shs 260million.

Kantinti was arrested and paraded before the High Court in Kampala following an arrest warrant that was issued earlier this year.

He was committed to Luzira Prison.

According to the High Court registrar, Kantinti is to stay in Luzira for a period of six months or until his creditors from Standard Chartered Bank are fully satisfied that he is in position to repay the laon.

In June 2017, Kantinti overwhelmingly lost the Kyadondo East seat to musician-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine.

After tallying votes from the 93 polling stations that participated in the voting process across the constituency, Kantinti managed a meagre 1,832 votes with Bobi Wine commanding 25,659 votes.

This is believed to be the time when Kantinti started defaulting on the bank loan.

Reacting to the arrest of his predecessor, Bobi Wine said that his legal team will get in touch with Kantinti's legal team to establish facts in his detention in an effort to help Kantinti regain his freedom.

"We are reaching out to his family, friends and well-wishers to see how we can be helpful to secure his freedom," he said.