AML/ CFT Judgments
Uganda vs Yudaya Ntumwa Judgments
The accused stands charged with Money Laundering C/S 116 (c) & 136(1) (a) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2013. In the alternative she was charged with receiving stolen property C/S 314 (1) of the Penal Code ACt, CAP 120.
The brief facts of the case are that on 2nd November 2014 the accused a client of the KCB Bank rung Lwamulungi Sebastian, then Head Teller at bank's Kampala road branch and asked to meet him. When they met she informed him that she had secured a 1.5m USD deal with M/s Basco paints, but that she needed USD 200,000 to pay commission Agents. She asked him to get her that money claiming that the Basco paint deal was a sure deal, and that the USD 200,000 would be refunded that very day with interest of USD 20,000. Lwamulungi got bank money and gave it to her the next day.
........see attachment for further reading.
Uganda vs Kamya Valentino & Three Others
In 2015, the Financial Intelligence Authority received information indicating that an accountant with the Embassy of Sweden in Uganda was being investigated for suspected embezzlement of UGX 8.4 billion from his employer. It was indicated that this accountant would transfer the proceeds of crime into bank accounts belonging to his associates, including his wife.
Subsequent investigations revealed that he had used some of the money to acquire properties mainly real estate and high-end motor vehicles, but disguised ownership of these properties by registering them in the names of a fake company in which his father in-law was a shareholder. Other properties were registered in the names of his wife.
The Financial Intelligence Authority aided the investigations by tracing and halting transactions on the bank accounts into which some of the proceeds of crime had been deposited. This was done to prevent flight of funds, and to ensure a successful asset recovery process after conviction.
The accused was convicted on 28th July, 2020 of seven counts of money laundering under a plea bargain. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and agreed to compensate the Swedish Embassy the full sum of UGX 8.4 billion after selling all the properties he had acquired using the stolen funds. In addition, his wife and father in-law were convicted of money laundering for their roles in concealing the illicitly acquired property.