According to the lawyer of the 20-year-old athlete, Julius Ssekitoleko is being charged on Wednesday with conspiracy to defraud when he went missing in Japan after failing to qualify in the weightlifting competition for the Tokyo Olympics.
The athlete vanished from an Olympic training camp after learning that he did not meet the requirements to compete in the Games. Since the news spread, Japanese officials scrambled to locate him.
He was found several days later back in Uganda where he had flew back and government officials stating that he will undergo counselling. On Wednesday however, he was taken into custody being charged with ‘conspiracy to defraud’ before being released on police bond.
His lawyer, Anthony Wameli, stated that, “He is happy that he has been freed after spending five days in detention which is an infringement on his rights.”
A spokesman from Uganda’s criminal investigations department, Charles Twine, told AFP that, “Ssejitoleko mag have conspired with a government official to be included on the team for Japan while being fully aware that he did not meet the qualifications. Investigations will confirm the depth of the conspiracy to defraud the government as he had been paid allowances at the time of his disappearance.”
