Judge warns lawyers against stalling sh1.6b case

Defence lawyers are frustrating an Anti-Corruption Court hearing in a sh1.6b case involving former employees of Crown Converters Limited, a judge has said.

Judge Margaret Tibulya has given the defence lawyers the last warning in a case, in which former employees of the leading suppliers of stationery, Crown Converters are accused of embezzling sh1.6b from the company.

The defence lawyers representing the accused are Samuel Ejoku, Kabiito Karamagi, Kenneth Akampurira and Kizza Muhumuza.

Justice Tibulya was reacting to request by the lawyers, who said their clients were not yet ready to start their defence because they had not gotten some documents to bolster their case, and asked court to adjourn the case to a later date.

"This is not the first time the defence lawyers are seeking an adjournment yet when we met last in this court, today's date was given and agreed by all parties ," Tibulya said.

Patel Aniket, Taylor Alplesh, Patel Laxmikant and Dave Shailesh all former employees of Crown Converters are on trial for allegedly embezzling money from the company

Prosecution alleged that the accused supplied goods from Crown Converters to different customers across the country and allegedly deposited the money on their accounts.

Prosecution led by senior state attorney Barbara Kawuma said Aniket, Laximiknat, Aplesh and Shailesh allegedly conspired between June 2005 and December 2009 at Crown Converters offices in Kampala to steal from the company.

They are charged with embezzlement, forgery, and uttering false documents. They denied the charges.

Prosecution said that the fraud was unearthed by one of the managers Go Pal Patel, that money meant for Crown Converters Ltd was illegally transferred from Bank of Baroda in Kampala to private accounts of the accused.

It is further alleged that Police inquiries revealed that a number of resolutions binding the company (Crown Converters) had been changed without the knowledge of other directors.

Prosecution said separate Police investigations also established that the accused stole sh1,676,445,058.

The case was adjourned to April 5^th.