There was a moment of drama in the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court on Wednesday after City lawyer David Balondemu’s co accused Ssegujja Hassan turned state witness in the embattled lawyer’s forgery case.
Ssegujja who had been charged with forgery and conspiracy to commit a felony became a state witness after he entered into a plea bargain deal with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and pleaded guilty to the charges in return for his freedom.
This was after Balondemu who had promised him protection from the ODPP and State house anti- corruption unit while hiring him to forge medical documents that would see the city lawyer stay on remand as the case hearing progressed defrauded him of the said protection.
Following this agreement, he was convicted on all three counts, with each count carrying a penalty of either a UGX 1.5 million fine or a two-year prison sentence.
As part of the plea deal, Ssegujja agreed to testify against his co-accused, Balondemu David, City Lawyer and Chairperson, Kampala City Land Board.
He admitted to having assisted Balondemu in fraudulently forging medical documents aimed at supporting a bail application related to serious charges of obtaining over UGX 2.2 billion through deceit and conspiring to defraud an American company.
Segujja also revealed how Balondemu defrauded him over UGX 10M under the guise that he was going to protect him from arrest and prosecution by SH-ACU and ODPP.
Balondemu has, on many occasions, maligned investigators and prosecutors with unsubstantiated allegations of corruption, but it is now turning out that he is the one who thrives on such false promises, using the names of the investigators and prosecutors.
