Basajja loses sh13b in failed land deal

By Anne Mugisa

Businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba has lost sh13bn in a bad land transaction which involved the State minister of lands, Sam Engola and Asians of Ugandan and British citizenship.

The court judgment on Thursday cancelled the transfer of the said land in Lubowa, Wakiso District, totaling to 300 acres from Kikonyogo Investment Ltd to Basajjabalaba's Haba Group (U) Ltd.

 Justice Joseph Murangira ruled that the transaction was illegal and ordered that the land be reverted to Lakeside City Ltd.

The land in question, according to the High Court, had been irregularly transferred to names of different owners in 2010 by the Acting Commissioner for Lands Registration, Sarah Kulata Basangwa, who is currently on interdiction.

Lakeside City Ltd sued Haba Group (U) Ltd jointly with Engola, Kikonyogo Investments Ltd, another company called Lakeside Township Ltd and the Attorney General.

The complainants sued for breach of contract, fraudulent sale and transfer of the said land.

The judge noted in his ruling that at the time of the transfer of the said land to Basajjabalaba's company, there was a court injunction but the two companies ignored it.

The court also noted that Kulata refused to transfer the land from Engola's names to those of Lakeside City Ltd, which would have been legal. Instead, Kulata who is a lawyer, drafted a memorandum of registration, which according to the Judge, was a document not known in law and used it to register Lake Side Township Ltd as the owner of the land.

The land had been sold to Engola by  Lake Side City Ltd and later sold to Lake Side Township Ltd then to Kikonyogo Investments Ltd and finally to Basajjabalaba's Haba Group (U) Ltd.

The three who were referred to in the case as the 2nd, 3rd and 5th defendants, according to the court, “as non-citizens cannot in law hold and own the land as their holding or owning it is illegal and unconstitutional.

Justice Murangira ordered that the title for Haba be cancelled and instead the Lands Office registers the Land in Lakeside City's name.

“The transfer forms of the 2nd to the 3rd defendants and transfers from the 3rd to 5th defendant were not duly executed and attested in accordance with the provisions of the law and therefore, null and void.

The transfers from the 2nd to the 3rd defendants and from the 3rd to the 5th defendants are hereby cancelled…,” Justice Murangira ruled.

The judge also stated that the transfer from Engola to Lakeside City Ltd which Kulata rejected was legal. He ordered that Commissioner Lands Registration to register Lakeside City Ltd as the owner not later than 10 days after the judgment.