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KAMPALA - Court has declined to summon the former executive director of the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), David Livingstone Ebiru, to answer charges in connection to an alleged shillings 100m bribe, over lack of evidence.

City lawyer Hassan Male Mabirizi had asked the court to issue criminal summons against Ebiru to appear in court to answer charges of money laundering in connection to the bribery allegations.

On July 19, 2023, Ebiru while appearing before the Parliament’s Committee On Commissions, State Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) claimed that he had bribed UNBS board chairperson Charles Masekuura with shillings 100 million to extend his contract.

However, he later retracted his statement, saying he made the remarks out of anger.

The Anti-Corruption Court presided over by Principal Grade One Magistrate Abert Asiimwe today, February 21, 2024, refused to summon Ebiru after finding that there is no evidence pinning him on the crime.

“Even if there was to be evidence to back up the argument of the applicant, the offence that would be disclosed would be corruption which falls under the Anti-Corruption Act and not money laundering,” he noted.

Asiimwe said in the absence of Parliamentary proceedings, the court has no basis from which it would decide that the application disclosed the existence of a prima facie case.

Prima facie refers to a case in which evidence is reviewed by a judicial officer and determined to be sufficient to warrant the trial.

“It was a wastage of the intended accused’s time and resources to be required to formally attend the proceedings that may or may not result in being charged as they were proceedings aimed at determining whether the accused should be called upon to answer the charges or not,” he noted.

The magistrate explained that prosecution of cases under the Anti-Corruption Act of 2009 is partly regulated by section 49 of the same Act.

The section stipulates that prosecution shall not be instituted except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) or the Inspector General of Government (IGG).

The magistrate noted that while the efforts by Mabirizi in contributing to the jurisprudence of private prosecution in Uganda are highly commended, he should work with the DPP or the IGG in such related matters.

IGG withdraws charges

The development comes barely four months after the IGG, Beti Kamya withdrew charges of corruption against Ebiru.

On July 26, 2023, Ebiru was arraigned before the Anti-Corruption Court, but he was not formally charged after IGG prosecutor Rogers Kinobe (now court registrar) informed the court that they needed more time to finalise investigations.

This prompted the court to issue criminal summons against Ebiru to appear on August 8, 2023, but the latter did not appear in court.

Subsequently, the court directed the Police to arrest Ebiru and produce him in court to answer charges of corruption after he refused to appear in court despite summons.

Ebiru later applied to the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court, seeking to block his trial but Justice Jane Okuo Kajuga dismissed his application and okayed his arrest.
In her ruling, Kajuga noted that the case against Ebiru had not yet been committed to the High Court for trial, and hence can be handled by the lower court.

“The case can only find its way to the High Court through referral by the Chief Magistrate as provided for under section 7(1) of the Human Rights Enforcement Act which has not been done,” she earlier observed.

Kajuga explained that under section 7 (3) of the Human Rights Enforcement Act, the magistrate is vested with powers to stay proceedings but would then be required to refer to the High Court matters relating to alleged violation of fundamental rights for determination.

“I find that the way the matter has been directly brought to the High Court is forcing it to resolve quite a number of issues which the magistrates court has jurisdiction to handle,” she earlier ruled.