Court sets date for hearing of Chinese phone tapping case

COURT|

The Buganda Road Court Grade One Magistrate, Marion Mangeni has set June 30, 2020, to start hearing the case in which 37 Chinese nationals are charged with several charges including phone tapping.

The date was set shortly after the court declined to grant the accused bail for not furnishing substantial sureties.

"All the sureties presented by the accused were found not substantial enough; therefore, the bail application hereby fails. The accused are further remanded to Kitalya and Kigo Prisons until June 30, 2020, when they will appear in court for the hearing of their case," Mangeni ruled.

The charged are 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, 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.and Zhang You Ming 40.

Other co-accused include Lin Yi Ming 50, You Jing Dao 50, Li Jia Zhao 28, Lin Shao Sheng 54, Tang Lu 37, Yang Jun 34, Chen Kang 31, Wu Guan Yong 41, Mao Ya Jan 33, Lin Zinchuan 32, Luo Xiao Zhuang 37, Li Ren Zhe 34, and Lu Jin Hang 38, among others.

They are battling with 17 counts of phone tapping, illegal stay in Uganda, employment without entry permits, unlawful presence within Uganda, unlawful possession of protected species, and utilization of wildlife without wildlife use right.

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, 70 (a) and 71 (1) (b) of the Uganda Wildlife Act 2019.

Prosecution, lawyer arguments

Prosecution led by Ivan Kyazze informed the court that investigations were complete.

"Your honor, inquiries are complete, three witnesses are prepared in court for today and we have already disclosed to the defence," Kyazze submitted.

However, the defence counsel Peter Nsibambi Kimanje requested the court for an adjournment saying they needed time to talk to their clients so as to prepare their defence.

"It's true that we were served but we need time to prepare our clients for defence, we have agreed with the commissioner in charge of Prisons and we are to visit and talk to them. We, therefore, seek an adjournment," Kimanje said.

This prompted the trial Magistrate to adjourn the case to June 30, for hearing.

Charges

The prosecution alleges that on March 19, 2020, at Kireka Kamuli Road, Lubawo Zone, the accused and others still at large were found in possession of 2373 Redmi mobile phones, made in China under various IMEI numbers.

The said phones reasonably suspected to have been smuggled into Uganda from China in such large quantities without licence and clearance from customs.

The accused were also found in possession of Sept wolves, Huanghelou, Ligun, and Yuxi cigarettes all suspected to have been smuggled into Uganda.

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.

That Dao and others still at large had in his possession six tortoises valued at approximately over sh22.8m without a permit and were found utilizing them as pets without wildlife use right.