By Steven Candia

POLICE yesterday said it stands by its summons issued to the parliamentary committee probing the NSSF Temangalo land saga.

The director of the criminal investigation department (CID), Okoth Ochola, yesterday said the summons, which were served through the office of the speaker, were still valid and he expected those summoned to appear today.

“Our position on the matter has not changed,” Ochola said. If MPs fail to

honour the summons, he added, the Police may be forced to invoke the law under the Police Act, which he said they were not keen on doing.

“Let us wait and see what happens tomorrow so that we can decide on what course of action to take.”

Earlier this week, the Police wrote to Parliament, asking the MPs on the NSSF probe committee to appear at the CID headquarters to substantiate reports that some of the documents presented to them for perusal were forged.

The MPs on Wednesday said the summons, which they had not yet received, were prejudicial to the committee proceedings, interfered with the investigations and was tantamount to intimidation. They had vowed to defy the orders.

CID spokesperson Fred Enanga yesterday explained that in the communication to the Speaker, they requested him to consult with the chairman of the committee and come up with two members who could assist the Police in their investigations.

“It may even be the chairman and any other member, depending on who they choose. It is not that the entire committee was summoned,” Enanga clarified.

When contacted yesterday the Speaker, Edward Sekandi, confirmed having received a letter from CID inquiring about the forged bank papers. He, however, denied they were summons.

He said he had spoken to CID deputy director Hajji Moses Balimoyo, who wrote the letter. “We are finding a solution which will not require the MPs to go the Police. The matter is not alarming and it will be solved,” he said.

The New Vision last week reported that bank papers that were circulated among MPs were forged. The documents were meant to prove that security minister Amama Mbabazi had paid a bribe to finance minister Ezra Suruma so that the latter approves the land deal with NSSF.

An anonymous letter, accompanied by a copy of a cheque put in the MPs’ pigeon holes, claimed that sh410m was paid from the account of Mbabazi’s daughter, Rachel, to Everlight College Bunga, the school belonging to Mrs. Suruma.

However, the banks concerned denied any payment to the school. The cheque book had been stolen from Rachel’s car in Kampala two weeks earlier, a Police report said.