Justice Michael Elubu of the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court has dismissed the application filed by Indonesian Gold refinery Company to access more than Shs5bn which was froze by Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA).
In his ruling, the judge stated that there is evidence that bank account number No. 08323300013 at Bank of Africa – Oasis Mall is under investigation by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit.
The judge further rubbished claims that there is no ongoing investigation on the city law firm NSB Advocates and legal consultants which owns the said bank account, Pt Suka Jadi Logam which is an Indonesian gold refinery Company and two city lawyers Esther Barungi and Lordrick Musinguzi Kamukama.
The judge based on affidavit evidence of Detective Assistant Superintendent of Police, Milly Sitenda Kasonga, who is the investigating officer assigned to handle the matter told Court that investigations are still ongoing.
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She revealed that the matter is under criminal case file No. ACU GEF 361/2025 and it is being jointly handled by State House Anti-Corruption Unit and Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
She also noted that they are also investigating a case of suspected fraud and money laundering against a number of suspects.
Milly stated that they started investigating the matter on the 21st October, 2025 when they received intelligence reports from a whistleblower regarding an ongoing fraud, coordinated through NSB Advocates and Legal Consultants.
“After verifying the information, Detectives were assigned to investigate the matter. It was established that, on the 15th of October 2025, United States Dollars $1,325,705.47 was received by NSB Advocates and Legal Consultants through Account No. 08323000013, held with Bank of Africa Oasis Mall Branch,” the senior detective stated.
He added that on this background, Barungi who is the managing partner of the law firm and also the principal signatory to the bank account was arrested and interrogated.
Upon arrest, she confirmed that the said money was sent to her law firm account by the Indonesian gold refinery company after signing an agreement dated 6th October 2025, for the purpose of enabling them to set up a gold dealing business.
She revealed that Birungi was released on police bond on the 6th of November 2025 but police wrote to her requesting her to produce her clients on the 10th of November 2025 at the State House Anti – Corruption Unit but nobody turned up at the appointed time.
She added that police further wrote to Barungi a second letter asking her to produce her clients but she again failed to bring them which forced the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to write to the Financial Intelligence Authority asking them to halt any transactions on NSB Advocates’ bank account.
“It also requested for an Anti-Money Laundering investigation into the law firm’s operations which was done. A preliminary report they produced showed that it had instructed Bank of Africa to halt transactions on the Bank Account.”
The FIA issued an Administrative Order and the investigating officer obtained a Court Order from Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s freezing any withdrawals from the Bank Account. The bank was served the order but shortly after service of the said Court Order, she received intelligence information that the suspects who were still at large had vacated the Court Order without her notice.
She stated that the lawyers fraudulently lifted the ban and accessed the bank account which forced her to seek a restraining order which was issued restricting all persons from withdrawing, transferring, disposing of, or otherwise dealing with the funds held on the bank account.
She told court that she further secured an iPhone mobile phone belonging to Barungi for forensic analysis, and requested for an examination and extraction of all email communications related to transactions between her and the directors of the Indonesian gold dealing company.
The judge agreed with the State and dismissed the application from the Indonesia’s gold refinery company with a warning to them to stop frustrating the ongoing investigations.
