Lukanga Derrick Kibirango, a gold dealer, has petitioned the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) to investigate circumstances in which police continues to hold him as well as his gold consortium of 1,065kg worth an estimated $2m.
Through his lawyers, a letter which The Observer has seen, Lukanga accuses the police Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of frustrating his efforts to export the gold to Dubai.
However, sources within SIU who preferred anonymity say Kibirango is being investigated for smuggling the gold into the country.
"The source of this huge gold cache is fishy. We got a tip-off it came from a top Burundi official and we want to know how it ended up in the hands of Kibirango," said the source.
However, Kibirango claims in the petition that he bought the gold legitimately after obtaining a bank loan of $207,000. In the petition, Lukanga claims he went through all processes and booked 1,000kg of gold into the government refinery last month, smelted it and packaged in bars to export it to Dubai.
However, he says the SIU arrested him at Equity bank main branch in Kampala as he was processing funds to export to the gold.
"I was detained for more than a week in Kireka without charge until my lawyers got a writ of habeas corpus to produce me in court," he says in the petition.
"However, the Nakawa court resident state attorney failed to find evidence to institute a criminal proceeding against me since I had legitimately booked all my goods into a government refinery, declared it with the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce (UNCC) and got a certificate of title which the police failed to challenge. So, I wonder why I'm still detained when there is no complainant."
In the petition, Kibirango attaches receipts of monies received to purchase the goods, and claims he is a representative of a US-based company called RAK Group Holdings.
He further alleges there could be collusion to extort money from him.
"I'm perturbed because the resident state attorney has not sanctioned any charges on me yet I'm not a free man. We should either proceed with the court process or consider dropping the false charges because there is no evidence of any crime."
A source in the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) office says police has been directed to complete Kibirango's file and sanction it within 24 hours or release him immediately.
"I am a victim of business rivalries; I have all the papers for the gold. My boss is waiting in Dubai for the gold but I have been frustrated to ship it. I have spent money on the police and now I don't know why my goods get connected with a different owner who is not here to complain against me, I demand an immediate release and an apology."
Efforts to get a comment from police spokesperson, Fred Enanga, were futile as he didn't pick our calls.
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