Witness pins Bad Black lover Sentongo in court

By Edward Anyoli

A city engineer on Monday testified that socialite Bad Black's friend Meddie Ssentongo hired him to draw a building plan and a bill of costs for a hotel worth $9m (about sh20b) that was to be constructed in Entebbe.

Peter Michael Lule from Wasin Associates Engineers, also told court that Ssentongo had falsely posed as a director of the company belonging to Shanita Namuyimbwa aka Bad Black and her British lover David Greenhalgh, from which the money would come.

"He said he was the director of Daveshan Development Limited which was doing its first project in Uganda," Lule said.

The company Daveshan Development Limited was registered in Uganda in September 2010 with the registrar of Company after which Greenhalgh injected funds to run a real estate business.

The two directors were David Greenhalgh and Shanita Namiyimbwa.

Lule told the Anti-Corruption Court presided over by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire that Ssentongo instructed him to prepare a bill of costs which he gave him [Ssentongo].

He said Ssentongo paid him sh6m and $400.

The witness further revealed that Ssentongo also instructed him to alter the name of the construction company from ‘Wasin Associates’ to ‘Alcon’, which he did.

Alcon is the construction company that built the Workers House in Kampala.

He [Lule] went ahead to testify that Ssentongo told him to back-date the construction date to appear on the building plan as though the construction started way back in July 2010 yet it was not the case.

Lule, who said he was not a registered engineer, admitted during cross-examination by the lawyers representing Bad Black and Ssentongo that he went against his professional ethics to alter the document.

The third prosecution witness, Miriam Nabatanzi, from Registrar of Companies, said Daveshan is a registered company with Greenhalgh and his black lover Namuyibwa as its directors.

She told court that the company was registered in September 2010 with David having 75% while Namuyimbwa with 25%.

Prosecution led by State Attorney Paul Lakidi from Directorate of Public Prosecution alleges Bad Black and Ssentongo, between October 2010 and February 2011 in Kampala, conspired to defraud Daveshan Development Limited of $9m (about 20b).

In a separate count, Bad Black is alleged to have embezzled sh11b from the same company while she was still a director.

Bad Black and Ssentongo, both smartly dressed listened keeny as the witnesses testified against them.

Ssentongo stood throughout the trial while Bad Black requested to sit during proceedings that lasted for over two hours.