Three additional suspects, including a former Equity Bank executive, have been arrested in relation to a massive fraud case involving unsecured loans at the bank.
The individuals detained are former Airtel Uganda employees and current businessmen, Godfrey Mukwaya and Robert Mugumya, along with Fred Kato, who previously managed Small and Medium Enterprises at Equity Bank.
These suspects appeared before the Anti-corruption Division’s Magistrate’s Court on charges of conspiracy to defraud, but were not allowed to enter pleas.
Mukwaya, formerly a sales manager at Airtel Uganda, is accused of using various individuals to establish bank accounts through which more than Shs10 billion was fraudulently withdrawn from the bank.
Additionally, Mugumya is alleged to have set up 179 fictitious companies that were used in a scheme to defraud Equity Bank of more than Shs35 billion.
Magistrate Albert Asiimwe declined to let the accused plead, linking their charges to a larger ongoing money laundering case that the High Court is scheduled to hear. Asiimwe stated, “Although this court can adjudicate conspiracy charges, the connected money laundering case necessitates a plea in the High Court.”
These arrests bring the total to eight suspects implicated in the fraudulent issuance of over Shs62 billion in unsecured loans from Equity Bank.
Previously, on March 20, 2024, five Equity Bank employees were charged with money laundering and issuing unsecured loans totaling Shs62 billion to unqualified borrowers.
The defendants, including Julius Musiime, head of Agency Banking, and Erina Nabisubi, a telecom relationship manager, face multiple charges including obtaining credit by false pretenses, money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud.
From 2021 to 2024, it’s alleged that at Equity Bank’s main office in Kampala, Nabisubi and associates fraudulently secured large sums by falsely representing loan qualifications and applications.
