Grade one Magistrate Moses Nabende has issued an arrest warrant for Former Kampala South Regional Police Commander, Siraje Bakaleke who has for the umpteenth time skipped court.
Bakaleke was summoned by court, but he kept snubbing the summonses until yesterday when the judge ordered him arrested.
Prosecution alleges that they have issued summonses to Bakeleke and have evidence he has received them, but the police boss has refused to heed to any of them.
Bakaleke was supposed to appear before court Friday, for offences related to abuse of office, kidnap and abducting with intent to confine a person, embezzlement, obtaining money by false pretence and conspiracy to commit an offense, but he was no show.
Unfortunately for Bakaleke, his co-accused; Mugoya Wanyoto, a lawyer Munezero Robert, Nuwagaba Innocent, Asiimwe Ribert, Amanya Junior, Babu Gustavas and Zirintusa Keneth, all police officers, showed up.
Prosecution lawyer James Byamukama confirmed that Bakaleke has been ordered arrested by court.
“The court has released a warrant of arrest, because he did not come to court yet he received the summonses.”
The officer was suspended from office in April and he normally spends time at Unik Cottages in Kyaliwajjala, however, our sources claim he has not been sighted for quite some time now.
In September, The Civil Division of the High Court dismissed an application by Bakaleke in which he sought for a temporary injunction stopping the Director of Public Prosecutions from instituting charges on him.
Earlier, the Anti- Corruption court in Kololo Court had issued criminal summons against Bakaleke for failure to show up and answer charges.
Through his lawyers led by Sarah Nakachwa, Bakaleke petitioned the High Court seeking to stop his trial by the Anti -Corruption court saying it is against public interest.
He said that his charge sheet was drafted by police and the Director of Public Prosecutions endorsed which he says is wrong since the victims of the alleged crime never made statements.
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It is alleged that two South Korean investors Park Seunghoon and Jang Shingu Un from Mckineley Resource Company Limited were scheduled to meet some gold dealers in Kampala but were instead surrounded by security operatives who asked them to hand over the $415,000 they had at gun point before going away with it.
According to a police officer privy to the case, the police officers who were allegedly working on orders of Bakaleke would later detain the two Koreans at Katwe division police headquarters before they were later driven to Entebbe to be forced onto the plane back home.
However, the South Koreans missed the Emirates flight and the police officers from Crime Intelligence decided to buy them air Rwanda tickets but before they could board, operatives from the Flying Squad swung into action foiling the illegal deportation.
The six junior officers would later be detained at Nalufenya detention centre in Jinja district but were released.
Last month, Bakaleke expressed a deep sense of fear that he could be assassinated by unknown people. He said he was receiving life threatening messages ever since he started challenging his case in Anti-corruption court.
“Since I started challenging my case at the Anti-Corruption court, I started receiving threatening messages on my phone and these messages through WhatsApp and SMS have persisted after the death of Kirumira,” Bakaleke said.
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“I have decided to keep at my residence. I know it is because of my hard work that I am haunted; I have served my country diligently; I have sacrificed my family because I don’t sleep while solving people’s problem only to be paid with malicious uncompleted charges just to pull me down,” he added.
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