Lawyer arrested in connection with demolition of Ndeeba Church

CRIME |

The State House Anti-Corruption Unit on Saturday arrested Ambrose Tebyasa, a lawyer, in connection with the recent demolition of St Peter's Church Ndeeba, Kampala.

The head of the unit, Lt. Col. Nakalema, confirmed the arrest of Tebyasa and said he was part of the ongoing investigations and alleged fraud in the demolition of the church.

Tebyasa is accused of ‘fraudulently representing defendants (representatives of trustees of the Church) in a civil suit without allegedly seeking their instructions.

The trustees of the Ndeeba Church include Lucy Nsubuga, widow of the Bishop of Namirembe Dunstan Nsubuga and the families of the late Rev Yuda Kitaka and Esau Kizito.

The investigators were alarmed when the same lawyer later appeared in court to represent businessman Dodoviko Mwanje alias Dodo when he applied for bail after he was arrested for masterminding the demolition.

Sources said Dodo was behind the group that sued the same trustees Tebyasa purported to have represented in court.

Court records indicate that Dan Ssemwanga, John Kajoba, Edward Balunga and Steven Nakibinge who are the joint administrators of the late Evelyn Nacwa's estate in 2008 went to court and sued Lucy Nsubuga, the administrator of the estate of Bishop Nsubuga, Nalongo Constance Kizito, the administrator of the estate of Esau Kizito and Armstrong Kiteesa, the administrator of the estate of Yuda Kitaka, as well as the Commissioner Land Registration, accusing them of fraudulently processing the title.

Tebyasa's arrest followed an earlier one on Thursday of Armstrong Kiteesa, son of Esau Kizito, one of the registered trustees of the Church, who, according to the anti-corruption unit lawyers, during interrogation, denied ever instructing Tebyasa to include him on the list of trustees.

Kiteesa was still being held at the Special Investigations Directorate at Kireka.

Tebyasa was arrested from his law fi rm at Kob House on Bombo Road and detained at Kabalagala Police Station after he allegedly declined to appear at the anti-corruption unit's offices, where he had been summoned to present documents indicating that Kiteesa had powers of attorney from the family of Esau Kizito.

Sources indicated that Tebyasa sent a junior lawyer from his office, but upon questioning, he said the documents were with Tebyasa, who declined to turn up.

The documents, sources, said were needed for cross-examination of Kiteesa, who allegedly denied being party to papers presented in court during the proceedings.

Kiteesa is alleged to have stated that he does not know why he was a defendant in that suit ‘because he is not an administrator of the estate of Yuda Kitaka as stated in the pleadings'.

Tebyasa is likely to face charges of forgery and giving false information to the court, meddling with the estate of the deceased, and conspiracy to defraud.

Sources said Tebyasa allegedly conspired with Kiteesa and asked him to represent the family of Esau Kizito under the guise that he had a power of attorney. Kiteesa also purported to be an administrator of the family of Yuda Kitaka, whereas not.

Kiteesa allegedly told the investigators that he appeared in court only once and that whereas he is an administrator of the estate of the late Kizito, he did not appear in the suit in that capacity.

He also said his mother, Constance, was not an administrator of the estate of the late Kizito and wondered why she appeared in the suit. The other accusation against Tebyasa is that he presented Constance Nalongo as one of the defendants, alleging that she was an administrator of the estate of the late Esau Kizito, whereas she was not. The other anomaly the investigators pointed out was that she died in 2016, but remained a party to the suit.

The judgment passed by Justice John Eudes Keitirima on August 6, 2017, implicated the Church's registered trustees and commissioner land registration in the acquisition of a certificate of title, comprising Kibuga block 7 Plot number 749 on which the Church is located.

It was stated in the judgment that Bishop Nsubuga's widow, Lucy Nsubuga, adduced her evidence through a witness statement, but when the anti-corruption unit visited the latter to record a statement, she allegedly stated that she has never written or signed a witness statement. She also told the team that she has never instructed Tebyasa to represent her nor did she pay him any money for the service.

"Therefore, what Tebyasa did was to purportedly represent defendants on the suit who were actually not the right persons," one of the investigators said.

He said Tebyasa allegedly "endeavoured to defend his clients by submitting to the court that his clients never had any interest in the land. And that the Ndeeba Church was trying to steal the land".

"This was purposely meant to benefit the plaintiffs and the conspiracy is further proved when Tebyasa represented Dodoviko on the bail application," he said.