Tycoon Shumuk Tasked to Explain Dubious Takeover of Dewinton Land

The Director of Shumuk Aluminium Industries Mukesh Shukla has been asked to provide documents that support his ownership of Plot 9 Dewinton Road in Kampala.

Mukesh reportedly repossessed the said property in 1992 from the East African Aluminium Works Company which had owned it since 1953. But according to a select committee that is investigating the controversial repossession of Departed Asian properties in Uganda, the transfer of ownership for the said land is dubious.

The conclusion was based on the fact that the Departed Asians Properties Custodian Board, to whom the said property was entrusted, is still in possession of the original certificate of repossession. The committee also heard that at the time of repossession, the title of the the property was in the names of Connection tours and travel Ltd.

The committee thereby rejected a letter written in 1992, presented by Mukesh as proof that the Custodian Board had authorized the repossession of the said property from the East African Aluminium Works Company. Ibrahim Kasozi, the chairperson of the committee pointed out that the transfer of titles was illegal.

The departed Asians Properties Custodian Board Executive secretary George William Bizibu laid before the committee an original certificate of repossession written out to East African Aluminium Works which had never been collected by the claimant.

Although Mukesh tried to argue that he had followed all the procedures as required by law to repossess the property, Bizibu retorted that under no circumstances can there be two repossession certificates for the same property.

The acting Commissioner for land registration Steven Oluka told the committee that any transfer of property ownership from the custodian board to the claimant must be accompanied by a certificate of repossession.

On the basis of this, Kasozi asked Mukesh to explain how his company had come to transfer the title without following the due process of the law.

“There is no certificate registered on a title. And the question you asked is the same question we are asking. How did you transfer? That’s the reason as to why we are here in fact. Because according to the records, you could say these property belongs to custodian board. On the records, and they are saying the owners never came back because they never picked the title. Now who are those on that property? The question was, if you did not repossess, why was the certificates there? If you transferred the title, the same question you asked; what did you use to transfer?” he asked.

The lands registry has been directed to provide a search of the property for all the transfers on the said title and whether they match the information provided to the committee.

The committee has adjourned the matter until August 6, 2020, and in the meantime, resolved to write to the Uganda Registration Services Bureau to establish the directors of East African Aluminum works and whether there is any relationship with Connection Tours and Travel.