Late JAMES GARUGA LAND FRAUDULENT SALE: Charles Byaruhanga Arrested As Police Hunt For Agaba Maguru , Hapa Nganwa

KAMPALA — Police have arrested businessman Rtd Captain Charles Byaruhanga in connection with the fraudulent sale of land belonging to companies belonging to the late businessman Dr James Musinguzi Garuga, as detectives tighten the net around two other suspects.

Byaruhanga is expected to be taken to Makindye Chief Magistrates’ Court where he will face charges arising from land transaction that investigators say involved Block 1004 Plot 2, Freehold Register Volume LUW 38 Folio 3, at Bulemezi-Ngoma in Nakaseke District, a property described in the charge sheet as belonging to Incafex Limited.

Lawyer Agaba Maguru and businessman Henry Hapa Nganwa are also wanted by police over the same investigation.

The trio participated in the execution of a sales agreement and transfer documents without a valid board resolution or lawful corporate authority and allegedly in defiance of a Supreme Court injunction.

Police state that the transaction was executed on July 16, 2025, barely three weeks before the death of Garuga on August 6, 2025.

The charge sheet indicates that the suspects conspired to deprive Incafex of the property and further accuses Maguru and Nganwa of making or circulating disputed corporate documents concerning the directorship of Garuga Properties Limited, Kinkizi Development Company Limited and Incafex Limited.

The police charges come against the backdrop of a long-running corporate and shareholding battle surrounding Incafex and companies opened by the late Dr James Musinguzi Garuga.

Visit UHRC Sponsored The Supreme Court had already become involved in the Incafex dispute. In Incafex Limited v Rukikaire, Civil Application No. 8 of 2023, decided on November 17, 2023, the Supreme Court considered measures aimed at preserving property pending the implementation of a special audit and consequential orders.

The Court recognised its inherent power to preserve property so that the fruits of an earlier judgment were not rendered nugatory.

That 2023 injunction is now central to the police case, with the charge sheet stating that the July 2025 transaction was carried out in contravention of the subsisting Supreme Court order. URSB Nail In Maguru Coffin

The corporate fight took another dramatic turn in July 2026 when the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) Registrar of Companies ruled against disputed appointments that had placed Maguru in control of the Garuga-linked companies.

In Mathew Rukikaire v Garuga Properties Limited and Others, decided on July 24, 2026, Assistant Registrar of Companies Daniel Nasasira ordered the expunging of disputed resolutions and Company Form 20 filings appointing Maguru as a director of Garuga Properties Limited, Kinkizi Development Company Limited and Incafex Limited.

The ruling found among other things, that a shareholder had not been properly notified of the extraordinary general meeting at which the disputed appointment was made.

The Registrar held that a meeting convened without the required notice was null and that the resulting filings had been wrongfully obtained and were liable to be removed from the Companies Register.

Even more damaging, the Registrar found that the purported ordinary resolutions authorising Maguru to represent Garuga Properties in the affairs of the subsidiary companies had not been found on the Companies Register.

The disputed appointments of Maguru in the three companies were consequently ordered expunged.

GARUGA DIED — COMPANY WAR ERUPTED The corporate storm intensified after Garuga’s death. Garuga died at Nakasero Hospital on August 6, 2025, aged about 72.

He was a prominent businessman, lawyer, farmer, property investor and political figure and was widely known for his investments in agriculture and business as well as his role in Uganda’s opposition politics.

At the time of his death, Garuga was associated with major business interests, including Kigezi Highland Tea, while Garuga Properties was a majority shareholder in Kinkizi Development Company and Incafex.

His death was followed by a bitter struggle over control of the companies and the estate. URSB records show that the disputed appointments of Maguru were linked to meetings held in August 2025 just days after Garuga’s death.

The Registrar later found that the challenged corporate filings were wrongfully obtained and ordered them removed.

It is against that background that police have moved against Byaruhanga.

The charges say fraudulent transfer of title and conspiracy to defraud alongside issuing false corporate statements and disputed company records. The police case further state that the suspects purported to exercise corporate powers without the necessary board authority.

With Maguru and Nganwa still being hunted, investigators appear determined to bring all the principal suspects before court for Luzira coolers.

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