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Former Equity Bank executive director in charge of commercial banking Kenneth Onyango has been arrested over a sh62b fraud at the institution.

Onyango, who superintended over some of the day-to-day affairs of the bank, was napped from a hideout in the Kampala city suburbs on Thursday, April 11, 2024.

So far five employees of Equity Bank have been charged with conspiracy to defraud the bank of sh62b.

They are head of agency banking Julius Musiime, relationship manager Erina Nabisubi, banker Fred Ssemwogerere, Crescent Tumuhimbise Tibarwesereka and distribution and marketing consultant Wycliff Asiimwe. The five were charged on March 20, 2024, at the Nakasero-based Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala.

They were all remanded to Luzira Prison because presiding magistrate Abert Asiimwe stated that he did not have the jurisdiction to handle the charges of money laundering.

This prompted the accused persons to apply for bail in the High Court but their application is pending ruling before Justice Lawrence Gidudu.

The prosecution, led by chief state attorney Raymond Mugisa and state attorney Pamela Orokot from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), alleges that Musiime, Nabisubi, Ssemwogerere, Tibarwesereka, and Asiimwe conspired to defraud Equity Bank of sh62b between 2021 and 2024 in various places within Kampala city and Wakiso district.

Disbursement of unsecured loans

They are accused of fraudulently causing the disbursement of unsecured loans to unqualified people.

Regarding the charge of obtaining credit by false pretences, where Nabisubi is facing the charge alone, it is alleged that between 2021 and 2024 at Equity Bank Church House in Kampala, while employed as a relationship manager, Nabisubi incurred a debt of sh300m from Equity Bank by falsely claiming that the loans were applied for by Latiffa Nagawa and that she had fulfilled the bank's requirements for accessing loans.

Additionally, still on the charge of obtaining credit by false pretence, the prosecution alleges that between 2021 and 2024 at Church House, Nabisubi intentionally concealed the ownership of sh6.5b that she fraudulently obtained from Equity Bank, purporting that the money was applied for by Gladys Najjemba as a loan, whereas not.

It is further alleged that Nabisubi in 2021 and 2024, while employed as a relationship manager, concealed the ownership of sh6.5b, which she fraudulently obtained through account number 1032100370335 in Gladys Najjemba’s name claiming that the money was applied for by Najjemba as a loan.

Pertaining to the charge of money laundering against Musiime, it is alleged that between 2021 and 2024 at Equity Bank Church House, he concealed the ownership of sh18m, which he received as gratification from Stella Mutuuza for processing a loan of sh700m from the bank in the name of Gilbert Rwaheru Kizza, knowing that the money was proceeds of crime.

What the law says

Section 3 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act states that any person convicted of money laundering is liable to 15 years in jail or a fine not exceeding sh2b.

Section 309 of the Penal Code Act stipulates that a person who conspires with another to commit an offence of conspiracy to defraud is liable on conviction to five years in jail.

The offence of obtaining credit by false pretence under the Penal Code is a misdemeanour and the sentence is on the discretion of the court.