Col Kulayigye named in gold theft scandal

A senior army officer is on the spot for allegedly kidnapping employees of a private company and ransacking its premises after a gold transaction went bad. The three employees of Matrich Holdings Limited, a company which deals in minerals, are currently under police detention with 600 grammes of gold worth Shs70m, office equipment worth $20,000 (about Shs66.7m) and two vehicles yet to be recovered after a transaction involving a business lady identified as Brenda Murungi and an unidentified Congolese gold dealer hit a snag.

At the centre of the dubious gold transaction is Col Felix Kulayigye, the UPDF chief political commissar and MP, whom Mr Richard Kamugisha, the managing director of the Ntinda-based company, has reported to the army leadership for what his lawyers claim was kidnap of employees and theft of properties last Friday last week.

Col Kulayigye has, however, refuted the claims but confirmed the lady, Ms Murungi, is his niece who contacted him reporting theft of her gold from the company premises in Ntinda, a suburb in Kampala.
“Whereas it is true that Murungi is my niece and I actually contributed to the business, it is not true that I commanded the search of Kamugisha’s office premises. All I did was drive there on Friday and advise my niece to report the matter to police. What police did after the matter was reported is not known to me,” Col Kulayigye told Daily Monitor when contacted yesterday.

The deal
Last Thursday, Ms Murungi approached Matrich Holdings with a Congolese businessman who carried two kilogrammes of gold in a bag. She introduced herself as a business lady and the Congolese as a seller and wanted the gold tested for purity.

The duo was charged $200 (about Shs667, 000) for testing the two kilos of gold whose purity was confirmed and the transaction receipted. Ms Murungi was to later cash in for the gold, at an agreed sum of $60,000 (about Shs200.2m)but reportedly paid the Congolese $49,900 (about Shs166.5m), leaving a balance of $10,000 (about Shs33.3m). In a rather intriguing twist of events, Ms Murungi claimed the gold had been stolen at the premises and asked the company to produce the precious mineral.

“I was not party to their transaction, she introduced the Congolese and came with him to my office. How they disagreed along the way is not my business.
“My part was to test the gold and now she turned and demanded that we produce the Congolese man,” a teary Kamugisha narrated to this newspaper at his premises, located a few metres away from Tuskeys supermarket, in Ntinda, which remain inaccessible.

He added: “I advised her that if she had been cheated by the Congolese she should report the matter to police and she said she had her afande [army officer] and that is how Kulaigye came into the picture.”

At noon on Friday, neighbours this reporter interviewed recollected, the former army spokesman dashed to the premises with officers from police’s Flying Squad, regular police officers and plain clothed officers attached to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence and forcefully entered the premises. The three employees were undressed, remaining in under garments, handcuffed and ordered to cross the road where a waiting police truck was parked. They would later be driven to Ntinda Police post before being transferred to Central Police Station.

Police spokesman in charge of Kampala Metropolitan Patrick Onyango could neither confirm nor deny the detention of the three men who as of Friday 5pm, were not yet charged with any offence.

Mr Onyango said: “I don’t know about those suspects, I would need time to cross-check with our files.”

After the cross checking, he confirmed police have them: “It is true we have those suspects in our custody. We are charging them with obtaining money by false pretence. They have been on our wanted list. They are serious gold thieves. Kamugisha (MD Matrich) is not on my list.”

Mr Grace Musimami, the acting chairman Local Council of the area, recounted the happenings of the day. “All we could see was an operation akin to arresting terrorists. Everyone had guns and the employees were all undressed, remaining in their pants. They didn’t even have a Court Order and it was shocking to see a senior army officer presiding over lawlessness.”

This newspaper has seen a video shot by one of the neighbours in which men in police uniform are seen ordering the naked men, carrying a safe, to load it onto the truck. The video does not capture the army MP and the neighbours admitted they didn’t recongise him in the operation as tension reigned in the area for the duration of the 30-minute operation with uniformed and plain clothed operatives battering passersby who dared to ask questions.

Formal complaint lodged
A complaint dated June 18, has since been registered and received by the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Katumba Wamala in which Mr Kamugisha’s lawyers assert, “On June 17 [last Friday] Col Kulayigye in company of armed UPDF officers attacked the offices of our client without any legal justification and kidnapped the employees plus the property of the company. They took 600 grammes of Gold from our client’s premises worth Shs70m, two vehicles and other office equipment worth $20,000 [about Shs66m].”