Coltan Trade Was Legal, Says Trader

By Anne Mugisa and Milton Olupot A Kampala businessman, Muhammed Kasule, yesterday testified before the DR Congo probe Commission that he dealt in Congo coltan, but said his trade was legal. Another witness, Julius Twinomujuni of Capital Finance Corporation, also said that his company dealt in gold from 1995 to 1998, but that his suppliers were artisanal not miners. He said the Central Bank stopped their finance institution from dealing in gold, saying it was risky business and could run them down. Kasule tendered his documents and a sample of coltan to the commission, and said that he used to buy the mineral from Congolese businessmen who would bring it to Uganda. He said that he would in turn export the coltan to Germany. He said, however, that at one time he had to stop the business because the Congolese businessmen had started adulterating the coltan. The Commission discovered, however, that there are times when Kasule falsified the coltan consignments as cassiterite. He explained that he did that on orders of his German customers who reasoned that cassiterite was cheaper than coltan. Twinomujuni said he could not tell if the dealers who brought them gold were Congolese or Ugandan. He said the dealers brought the gold to his offices after seeing adverts in the media. He said that his company bought approximately 198kg of gold which they would refine and export to company called MITRA in Switzerland. In another development, the Director of CID, Elizabeth Kutesa is set to testify today on the UN allegations that Congolese vehicles were robbed and brought to Uganda. The UN Panel supported the allegation that “statistics on the Ugandan registered vehicles reflected an increase of about a quarter in 1999.” But the Ugandan authorities have denied the accusations and said that instead it is the Ugandan vehicles which were robbed and taken to the Congo. Ends