State objects to 37 Chinese bail application

CRIME | 

The state has requested the court not to grant bail to 37 Chinese nationals who are battling charges of phone tapping, illegal stay in Uganda, and employment without entry permits.

Liao Xiao Feng 30, Chen Xiao 30, Chen Jun 29, Yu Wen Jie 19, Lin Yi Ming 50, Li Jia Zhao and Lin Shao Sheng 54, among others, last month, through their lawyers led by Henry Kunya asked court to grant them bail.

Among other accused is Cheng Kang 31, Wu Guan Young 41, Tang Lu 37, Chen Huan Huan 36, Deng Guo Guo 37, Lu Jin Hang 38 and Mao Xue 37.
Their bail claim based on grounds that the alleged offences were bailable and that the accused had substantial sureties.

However, responding to the bail application on Tuesday, Ivan Kyazze informed the Buganda Road Court Grade One Magistrate, Marion Mangeni that the accused failed to furnish the court with at least two sureties as required by law.

"Your honor, it is a practice of court that an accused must furnish the court with a minimum of two sureties, but the latter have only presented seven yet they are 37," Kyazze said as he requested the court to dismiss the application.

He insisted that the seven sureties presented were not attached to any of the 37 accused and were not substantial enough.
"We were able to verify the LC I letters brought to court but upon verification from local council leadership in respective villages where the sureties claim to reside, the chairmen said they recommended the sureties without knowing where they stay," he added.

The prosecution also established that some sureties had expired visas, making them unlawfully staying in Uganda, therefore not reliable sureties.

This prompted the trial magistrate to adjourn the case to June 17, 2020, for ruling on whether the accused are granted bail or not.

They were further remanded to Kitalya and Kigo Prisons, respectively.

The charge

The prosecution alleges that between October last year and March 2020, at Kireka, Kamuli Road, the accused and others still at large accessed information unscrupulously when they facilitated the commission of the offence of unauthorised use of computer services knowingly and unlawfully accessed 1,895 Airtel SIM cards without authority for the purpose of obtaining directly or indirectly Airtel telecom services.

That at the same place and time, they also accessed 223 MTN SIM cards without authority aiming at intercepting calls in Uganda on the MTN network.

It is further purported that on March 17, 2020, Feng, Jun, Jie, Ming, Zhao, and Sheng at Kamuli Road Kireka, Kira Municipality in Wakiso district, the accused were found to be unlawfully present within Uganda after the expiration of their entry Passports.

On the same date and time, they were found engaging in private business to wit scrap dealing and recycling under company name DM Recycling International SMC Limited, P.O Box Kampala Uganda without a valid permit, certificate of permanent residence or special pass.

The charges contravene sections 21(1) & 15(c) of the Computer Misuse Act 2011, 59 (1) (D), and 66 (1) (H) (1) (2) of the Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Act Cap 66.