Kenneth Onyango, the former Executive Director of Commercial Banking at Equity Bank, has been arrested in connection with a fraud case involving sh62b at the bank. Onyango, who was responsible for some of the bank’s daily operations, was captured on Thursday, April 11, 2024, from a hideaway in the suburbs of Kampala city.
So far, five Equity Bank employees have been indicted for conspiring to defraud the bank of sh62b. The accused include Julius Musiime, the Head of Agency Banking, Erina Nabisubi, a Relationship Manager, Fred Ssemwogerere, a Banker, Crescent Tumuhimbise Tibarwesereka, and Wycliff Asiimwe, a Distribution and Marketing Consultant. They were charged at the Anti-Corruption Court in Nakasero, Kampala, on March 20, 2024.
All of them were sent to Luzira Prison as the presiding magistrate, Abert Asiimwe, declared he lacked the authority to deal with money laundering charges. This led the defendants to seek bail in the High Court, with their application currently awaiting a decision from Justice Lawrence Gidudu.
The prosecution team, led by Chief State Attorney Raymond Mugisa and State Attorney Pamela Orokot from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), alleges that the accused conspired to defraud Equity Bank of sh62b between 2021 and 2024 in various locations within Kampala city and Wakiso district.
They are accused of fraudulently facilitating the disbursement of unsecured loans to ineligible individuals. With the charge of obtaining credit under false pretences, which is solely against Nabisubi, it is alleged that she incurred a debt of sh300m from Equity Bank by falsely asserting that Latiffa Nagawa applied for the loans and that she had met the bank’s loan eligibility criteria.
Furthermore, the prosecution alleges that Nabisubi intentionally hid the ownership of sh6.5b that she fraudulently obtained from Equity Bank, claiming that the money was applied for by Gladys Najjemba as a loan, which was not the case.
Concerning the money laundering charge against Musiime, it is alleged that he concealed the ownership of sh18m, which he received as a reward from Stella Mutuuza for processing a loan of sh700m from the bank in the name of Gilbert Rwaheru Kizza, knowing that the money was the proceeds of a crime.