Senior police officer Siraj Bakaleke declared a deserter

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The police top management has declared Assistant Commission of Police (ACP) Siraj Bakaleke a deserter. All payments to his account have since been halted.

Bakaleke, the former Kampala Metropolitan Regional Police Commander was declared Absent without Official Leave (AWOL) on November 19, 2018, after more than 30 days of allegedly being away of duty.

Police issued instructions to the District Police Commander of Buyende, to search for Bakaleke at his father’s home in Innuula Village, Bugaya Sub County and advise him to report himself before November 25, 2018, failure of which, he would be declared a deserter and wanted.

A report by the Buyende District Police Commander shows that the search in his area of jurisdiction was futile. The report was handed to the Director of Human Resource Administration.

His declaration as a deserter comes two months after the police was served with an arrest warrant from the Anti-Corruption Court to allow him to face charges of fraud, kidnap and abuse of office.

According to a source in the police Human Resource department, Bakaleke’s salary will not be credited into his account effective this month.

“He will no longer receive any salary but he is also officially wanted. Leave the court things, but the force wants him as a criminal because deserting is a crime,” the source who preferred anonymity told URN.

Bakaleke was suspended from duty in May 2018 to pave way for investigations into the alleged fraud of 1.4 billion Shillings from two South Korean Nationals Park Seunghoon and Jang Shingu Un, who had come to Uganda on a gold hunt early this year.

But the South Koreans were arrested from Acacia Mall in Kampala where they were due to meet their lawyer Paul Wanyoto.  Reports indicate that on the day of the meeting, the dealers were surrounded by security operatives, put on gunpoint and asked to hand over the money in their possession.

A total of 1.4 billion Shillings was handed over to the police officers before the two South Koreans were arrested and detained at Katwe Police Station. They were later told that they were facing terrorism charges and would be deported.

It later turned out that the deployment had been sanctioned by Siraj Bakaleke after a tip-off from the lawyer who indicated that two of his clients were involved in dubious activities and he had a suspicion that they were financial terrorists.

The police officers reportedly bought two air tickets with Emirates air using some of the extorted money. But they missed the flight, creating confusion among the plotters of the deportation. They hurriedly bought new tickets with Rwanda Air but were netted before the South Koreans boarded the plane.

Now Bakaleke is accused of fraud, kidnap and abuse of office alongside the Lawyer Paul Wanyoto Mugoya, Nabeta Samuel Mulowooza, the Managing Director of Eye Power Engineering Company and police officers Robert Munezero, Innocent Nuwagaba, Robert Ray Asiimwe, Junior Amanya, Babu Gastavas and Kenneth Zirintuusa. Hearing of the charges started in September.

While eight of the suspects have since taken a plea to the charges, Bakaleke and lawyer Paul Wanyoto have yet to be charged with arrest warrants issued against the two of them. On Tuesday, the Directorate of Public Prosecution informed Court that they had received information that Bakaleke had fled the Country.

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URN