Court awards Shs 200m to man whose vehicle was wrongfully impounded
By Ruth Anderah
The High Court Kampala has ordered the government to pay Shs 225 million to businessman Moses Besimira in compensation for his vehicle which was wrongly impounded by police ten years ago.
According to the judgement sent to both parties via email by Justice Musa Ssekaana, on September 8th 2011, Besimira’s vehicle UAK 588G, Mitsubishi Fuso that had gone missing was found at the Central Police Station in Kampala.
Basimira, who was never told the reason for impounding his vehicle, has since 2011 been trying to recover it and written several letters seeking its release in vain, which prompted him to petition the court in 2015.
In his suit filed against the Attorney General, Basimira argued that by the time the vehicle was impounded, it was in good condition but had degenerated to a bad state while under police custody at the Criminal Investigations Department -CID headquarters in Kibuli.
In his judgement, Justice Ssekaana has ruled that on March 3rd 2013 the Commandant Kampala Metropolitan Police had ordered investigations into why Basimira’s vehicle was impounded and failure to find any sufficient reason to hold it, they would have released it to the owner.
He has accordingly awarded Basimera Shs110m as the fair value of the motor vehicle, Shs100m in general damages and another Shs15m shillings as a punishment to police never to repeat similar acts.
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