By Mary Kisakye
KAMPALA–Renown social critic and businessman Frank Gashumba has been granted bail.
Gashumba and his brother were Monday released by Buganda road chief magistrate James Mawanda Eremye on a Shs20m non-cash bail.
Gashumba was stood surety by Kalungu MP Joseph Ssewungu, Emmanuel Musoke (former Kalungu District chairperson) and John Ssebagala, a Kampala businessman.
The duo were not formerly charged due to the absence of the prosecutors who are currently on strike. The magistrate ordered police to deposit the suspects’ person’s passports in court.
Among the grounds for their bail application was that the accused persons were held in detention for more than the mandatory 48 hours.
Gashumba together with his brother Innocent Katamba were paraded before Buganda Road Court where they were read charges of forgery, impersonation, conspiracy to commit a felony and possession of narcotic drugs.
The duo was last week arrested in a joint operation of the military intelligence and police before being quizzed at CMI headquarters in Mbuya.
The suspects were later detained at the Police Special Investigations Unit (SIU) in Kireka.
Prosecution alleges Gashumba alias Frank Ssenyondo, 43; his brother Innocent Katamba, 30, and others still at large during the month of September 2017 in the Kampala District, forged a stamp for the ministries of Finance and Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of South Sudan.
Forgery contravenes section 342 and 347 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 120.
