Uganda Police Force through its spokesperson Fred Enanga has revealed that they are aware of the return of the former Kampala Metropolitan Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commission of Police (ACP) Siraje Bakaleke and he is to face charges of deserting from the Police.
While addressing journalists at Police headquarters in Naguru on Monday, Enanga said it’s true that after several years, ACP Bakaleke reported to police headquarters and he was forwarded to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations where he recorded a statement on charges of desertion.
“Desertion is a criminal offence and when you desert from the force, after 21 days you are declared a deserter and after that process, you become wanted. So, for all these years he was on our wanted list for desertion. He was briefly detained and then eventually given a Police bond,” he said.
Enanga added that ACP Bakaleke’s file is expected to be forwarded to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) today (April 3, 2023).
“We shall be guided by the legal opinion of the DPP because there was a file of obtaining money by false pretence allegedly involving him and some Koreans. The file had been set aside because the alleged key suspect (Bakaleke) was not around. So, we shall be guided by the office of the DPP on that,” Mr Enanga added.
Bakaleke’s troubles began way back in 2018 when his name appeared on the list of seven Police officers who allegedly abused the powers of their offices and extorted money.
It is alleged that before his disappearance, Bakaleke was facing charges concerning allegations of the kidnap, wrongful arrest and confinement of Korean investors (Park Seunghoon and Jang Shingu Un). It is said that Bakaleke used his office and connived with city lawyer Mugoya Wanyoto to defraud 415,000 US dollars from the Koreans.
According to the court documents, after the wrongful arrest of the Koreans, Wanyoto obtained another 30,000 US Dollars from them under false pretence that it was a legal fee to represent them on the criminal charges they were facing.
Following the charges Bakaleke and others were facing, through the Director of Police Administration, Moses Balimwoyo, the Inspector General of Police Martin Okoth Ochola ordered ACP Bakaleke, Assistant Superintendent of Police Herbert Akankwasa, Detective Inspector Robert Ray Asiimwe, Constable Drover Robert Ayebare and Constable Kenneth Zirintusa to hand over their offices immediately.
Their suspension was to pave way for investigations into the alleged fraud of Shs1.4 billion from two South Korean nationals who had come to Uganda on a gold hunt.
After his suspension, it’s alleged that he fled out of the country and on November 19, 2018, police were served with an arrest warrant from the Anti-Corruption Court to produce him to face charges of fraud, kidnap and abuse of office, however, he had fled out of the country.
Then Police management declared him Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) after more than 30 days of allegedly being away from duty.
In search for him, the Police issued instructions to the District Police Commander of Buyende, to search for Bakaleke at his father’s home in Innuula Village, Bugaya Sub County and advise him to report to his duty station before November 25, 2018, failure of which, he would be declared a deserter and wanted. According to the report from Buyende District Police Commander, they searched in their jurisdiction and Bakaleke was not there. It was from this point that he was declared a deserter.
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