Two police commanders are accused of fuelling internal strife against former Kampala South Regional Police Commander (RPC) Siraje Bakaleke who was implicated in shs 1.4 billion scandal.
Bakaleke and other officers who are detained in dreaded police facility, Nalufenya, in Eastern Uganda, allegedly extorted $480000 from three South Korean Nationals before forcefully repatriating them.
The Koreans who include; Ha Dong Sua, Park Seunghoon and Jang Seungkwon had jetted into the country last month to invest in mineral business.
Bakaleke has since been transferred to Central Police Station (CPS) as the acting Commissioner of Police (CP) in the Political Education section of police, a position many perceive as a demotion.
He also faces charges of extortion, unlawful detention and deportation of these Koreans.
Fresh details gathered by this website indicate that Kampala Metropolitan Police (KMP) Commander Frank Mwesigwa and Flying Squad Unit Commandant Herbert Muhangi are at the centre of Bakaleke- Koreans fight.
A source in police who requested not to be mentioned said that after the scandal broke out, Mwesigwa and Muhangi saw it as a platform to “sort their long time issues with Bakaleke.”
However, some members of the public have been sucked into this police mess as collateral damage.
Alex Kangwanja, a resident of Salama in Makindye division, Kampala told the media that on February 4, he was kidnapped by four armed men who took him to unidentified place, and ordered him to implicate Bakaleke.
“They told me to testify that I saw Bakaleke take shs 1.7 billion from Koreans or else they will kill me,” he told local television NBS.
Kangwanja added that he has never talked to Bakaleke and denied there is any relations between the two, “apart from giving police information I have never interacted with Bakaleke.”
It remains unknown whether this is Mwesigwa and Muhangi’s plan of using civilians to settle their scores with Bakaleke.
Bakaleke has repeatedly told the press that he is an innocent man with a good track record as a police officer.
TrumpetNews contacted KMP commander Frank Mwesigwa, who questioned what his motive of fighting his senior would be, “Bakaleke is my senior. Why should I fight him? To take his position…”
Mwesigwa again denied that there is an internal fight in police over the Koreans’ cash.
“There is no any fight as you say. That fight you are talking about doesn’t exist.”
Asked if his command has the jurisdiction to investigate this scandal, Mwesigwa declined to answer on phone.
This website understands that KMP has kicked off investigations into the shs 1.4 billion deal.
Flying Squad commandant Muhangi didn’t not respond to our repeated calls.
