The sh 8b NSSF corruption case against former social security's board chairman, Geoffrey Onegi Obel, has been resurrected after the Constitutional Court threw out the petition to block his trial.

Obel, who is accuse of causing loss of money in the botched$225m Nsimbe Housing Estate deal and abuse of office, petitioned the Constitutional Court in 2011 challenging his prosecution by the IGG. He contended that IGG acted unconstitutionally to charge him when the Attorney General had advised against the charges.

Justice Remmy Kasule, Eldad Mwangushya, Solome Balugi Bossa, Kenneth Kakuru and Lilian E. Tibatemwa, yesterday rejected Obel's application in a joint ruling.

"We see no merit in this reference, which we hereby dismiss with costs. The (court) registrar is directed to return the record of the lower court, directing that the trial magistrate proceeds with the trial of the respondent (Obel)," they ruled.

The charges against Obel and other senior officials of NSSF were instituted in 2010. The IGG said Obel and his colleagues committed the offences between 2004 and 2005.

The funds, the IGG says were pilfered during a transaction in which NSSF, through a company called Premier, entered a joint venture with Mugoya Estates Limited, a private business company. The venture involved a plan to construct 5,000 housing units by Nsimbe Holdings Limited.