The Departed Asians Properties’ Custodian Board (DAPCB) has called on the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to interest itself in finding out where Ugandans who have dubiously acquired or repossessed expropriated properties are remitting their rental and sell taxes.
The DAPCB officials say they have been at the receiving end of complaints from Ugandans who accuse them of hindering development by looking on when the buildings left behind by Asians expelled in 1972 by then President Idi Amin are profiting few people instead of the government.
Addressing journalists in Kampala today, the DAPCB Executive Secretary, George William Bizibu said that some of the illegal possessors of hundreds of expropriated properties are getting a lot of proceeds from the properties using fake repossession certificates and powers of attorney from original proprietors.
He said that much as the sub-committee of the Parliamentary Commission on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) is investigating the dubious acquisition of expropriated properties, some of the people holding on to some of the buildings have eluded the probe.
“They continue to earn billions of shillings from properties they are illegally managing. Most of these properties are supposed to be in the hands of the government because they had been compensated for or were redeemed. URA should interest itself in claiming rental tax from these properties in the wrong hands” Bizibu said.
He also said there are other properties that were repossessed in joint venture with the government but the agencies supposed to account for them are not helping the DAPCB to reclaim government interests.
Who are the illegal possessors of the properties?
Bizibu, together with the Chairman of the DAPCB Divestiture Committee, Dr Abdul Byakatonda, released to the press a list of Ugandans who are allegedly clinging on properties using questionable powers of attorney from the former proprietors who never returned to Uganda at the time of repossession in 1992-93.
First on the list is Muhamed Allibhai who manages at least 1,200 properties under his company Alderbridge Real Estate & Management Limited. Allibhai has even had a warrant of arrest issued against him by the sub-committee of COSASE after he continuously eluded meetings chaired by Makindye East MP Ibrahim Kasozi.
His only appearance before the sub-committee was in September 2019 in his capacity as chairman of the Association of Expropriated Properties Owners Limited but upon questioning, he testified on oath saying he had got powers of attorney from former owners mostly living in Canada.
Allibhai eluded the committee meetings after the MPs asked him to return with evidence of powers of attorney, tax remittance receipts and management contracts signed with the former proprietors of the buildings giving him authority to manage and sell properties.
Could Museveni’s Election as EAC Chair Renew Push for Accelerated East African Integration?The deputy ambassador of Uganda to Italy, Kassam Mumtaz has also been listed for allegedly being in possession of 149 properties claiming she has powers of attorney from departed Asians most of them living in the United Kingdom. She has also eluded the Parliament probe and DAPCB officials insist she still pockets billions of shillings in rent annually.
Others allegedly illegally profiting from properties illegally are; Minex Karia with 44 buildings; Praful Patel with 86; Praful Chandra with 17; N.K. Radia with 64; and former Buganda Kingdom Minister Rajin Taylor with 10.
Property Angels and Bajja Property Management is another company that is accused by the DAPCB of holding on to 40 properties while another 340 properties are reportedly in the hands of one Ssebagala Senoga.
Byakatonda, the head of the Divestiture Committee said that as a way of retrieving other properties held illegally upcountry, the DAPCB has instituted District or City Working Committees to help in the process of recovery.
“These committees are headed by the Resident District Commissioner (RDCs) in case of a district and Resident City Commissioner (RCC) in the cities. These committees have already helped us to recover properties even here in Kampala and other towns like Masaka and Mbale” Byakatonda said.
He revealed that most of the dilapidated buildings in Kampala and other major towns across the country are some of those properties in the hands of the “mafias” who want the DAPCB to be wound up so that they can be able to process land titles before renovating them.
Background
When President Amin expelled the Asians who did not hold Ugandan citizenship in 1972, he allowed those who were leaving to declare their registered properties to the government before exiting in 90 days.
Some information in DAPCB indicates that only about 4,000 of the 23,000 Asians who had been granted Ugandan citizenship opted to remain in the country, while the majority, who feared for their lives, joined the more than 50,000 others who had been given 90 days to leave the country.
The records in Bank of Uganda only indicate that 86 properties whose owners were living in many countries around the world as refugees were compensated through the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) while 115 properties left behind by 67 British-Asians were compensated for through the British High Commission.
