NUP coordinator in Luwero wanted over alleged fraudulent acquisition of a school

The Criminal Investigations Directorate has summoned Denes Sekabira, the National Unity Platform coordinator in Luwero and a candidate for Katikamu North over forgery allegations.

It is alleged that Sekabira, with the help of one of the banks, took possession of a school valued at over Shs 4 billion.

In December, the owners of Luwero-based Everest Schools Ltd wrote to CID Director Grace Akullo officially accusing Sekabira of closely working with one of the commercial banks to commit crime and fraudulent activities.

Akullo referred the matter to Luweero Police Division whose CID boss ASP Hassan Kalengat moved to act by writing summons separately summoning Sekabira and officials of the bank.

Sekabira was first summoned on December 2, 2020 but he did not show up. Police issued fresh summons dated December 15, 2020 but he was a no show.

Kalengat told Nile Post that Sekabira was being investigated for: basically fraud and uttering false documents under Luwero Police Station Re No. LUW/CRB/613/2020.

The fraud, as reported by the directors of the school, relates to the circumstances under which a local bank purported to foreclose and sell the school buildings and land to Sekabira without following any of the known procedures such having a valuation report, advertising the same ahead of public auctioning and using a licensed auctioneer or court bailiff to conduct the auction.

The school had taken out a loan to invest in expansion but repayment became complicated earlier in the year 2020 after the government imposed a lockdown in March due to Covid-19.

With constrained cash flows, the school was unable to promptly pay prompting the bank to move in attaching and auctioning the property even when the president had directed banks to sit down with their borrowers to restructure the terms and agree on future repayment.

Newspaper adverts were run and when no buyers showed interest, the bank devised other means insisting their money had to be recovered.

The school claims at that time, the pending balance was Shs700m and not Shs800m as claimed by the bank.

A bailiff called Christopher Lumala of CL Risk Management Services was contracted by the bank to sell and recover the money but the Chief Registrar of courts Sarah Siu Langa, whose mandate it is to license and regulate court bailiffs, wrote a letter indicating Lumala was not a licensed bailiff disputing the entire sale.

The school directors are insisting that without a permanent job, there is no way Sekabira would raise the Shs 2.7bn at which the bank claims to have sold the school to him.

Ronald Ndawula, one of the school directors, in his complaint to Grace Akullo claims that the bank dubiously sold the school to a fictitious person who actually doesn’t exist.

He alleges that Sekabira was merely a proxy the bank officials used to deprive him of his school.

Ndawula wonders why Sekabira rushed to swear a deed poll proceeding to NIRA applying to change his name from “Sekabira Denis to Sekabira Denes” at the time of the transaction.

The relevant paper work aside, Ndawula and other school directors are also demanding that the NUP man explains why the purported purchase of the school land from the bank by him was effected on 16th November 2020 and the same purchaser was curiously facilitated to borrow Shs 2.7 bn from the same bank using the same land as the mortgage security.

That actually he was able to access this loan facility of Shs 2.7 bn before the ownership of the same land was transferred into his names.

Sekabira previously belonged to NRM and he was the ruling party flag bearer DP’s Luttamaguzi Semakula defeated in 2016 to become the Nakaseke South MP.

In around 2018 as he pondered his next move, Bobi Wine came to the political scene with his People Power which Sekabira joined while cursing the NRM for using and dumping him. He relocated from Nakaseke to Katikamu North in Luwero where NUP/PP has significant support being more urban than Nakaseke.

Police sources say that could be the reason he fears to respond to the summons fearing he will be arrested and made to answer for his earlier political activities.

Our efforts to talk to Sekabira were futile as he did not answer our phone calls.