Kashaka and Bamutura were in 2014, convicted by the then Anti-corruption court judge Catherine Bamugemereire for various roles they played in contracting a sham company, Ammam Industrial Tools and Equipment Limited to purchase 70, 000 bicycles from India. The said bicycles were to be used by parish and Local Council chairpersons in the 2011 general elections. Todate, the bicycles have never been delivered.
The Court of Appeal comprising of Justice, Elizabeth Musoke, Christopher Izama Madrama and Hellen Obura upheld the conviction and subsequent sentences which forced the convicts to appeal in the Supreme Court.
The lawyers led by Macdusman Kabega on Tuesday told a panel of five Supreme Court Justices led by the Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo that one of the Judges who presided over Kashaka's appeal case should have recused himself from the matter since he was privy to the evidence that was adduced in the trial.
Principal State Attorney Harriet Angom on Friday told Supreme Court Judge Lillian Tibatemwa that court should instead expeditiously hear Kashaka's appeal challenging his conviction and sentence as opposed to releasing him on bail.
Erongot was convicted together with John Muhanguzi Kashaka, Henry Bamutura, Adam Aluma, Robert Mwebaze and Timothy Musherure, for causing a financial loss of 4.2 billion Shillings to the government after misappropriated money meant for the purchase of bicycles for Local council leaders across the country.
The missing suspect is Sam Emorut Erongot, the former Commissioner in charge of Policy and Planning in the Local Government Ministry, who went missing moments after the court of Appeal upheld his conviction and 13-year jail term for his role in the scam.
