Toro queen sh150m fraud case pushed to November

By Michael Odeng

The case in which a man is accused of defrauding the Toro queen mother of USD60,000 (about sh150m) has been adjourned to next month, November following a hearing earlier this week.

An assistant superintendant of police testified against the accused – Ibrahim Nsimbe alias Moses Kyeyune – telling Nakawa court that he was implicated in the said crime.

Sylvia Chalangati who is attached to Kireka Police Station said Nsimbe had an upper-hand in the fraud targeted at Toro queen mother, Best Kemigisha.

The accused is a resident of Nakiyugozi, Makindye division, a Kampala suburb.

He had appeared before the Nakawa grade one magistrate Patrick Wekeasa two months ago over the same case.

Then, he was charged together with his accomplices Dr. Martin Hoods and one Dr. Jonathan identified as “Europeans” who allegedly claimed to be UN agents.

Nsimbe’s accomplices were charged in absentia. Court heard that the two suspects are nolonger in the country.

The money in question was purportedly for registering the queen mother’s NGO, the Tooro Kingdom Women Association with the UN and hiring a bullion van for the transportation of goods that would be used in the transactions between the UN and the NGO.

Nsimbe, together with his accomplices, are accused of obtaining money from the queen mother with false pretense.

Police superintendant Chalangati on Monday testified in light of a handwritten letter bearing acknowledgment of the ‘payment receipts’.

“The police was requested to examine, compare and establish the person who signed the specimen [letter],” she said.

The case was originally filed at Jinja Road police station by the claimant (Best Kemigisha) on February 6 this year, prompting the search for the accused (Nsimbe and the ‘British nationals’) by the police.

According to state witness, Nsimbe received USD55, 000 at DFCU bank in the month of July 2011 from Best Kemigisha and two other bundles of USD2, 500 each at different times from the same bank as indicated by the bank documents.

“The first amount was part of the money for hiring a bullion van and registering the Tooro Kingdom Women Association with the UN while the second batch was for his personal use,” Wilson Ainebye, a police detective at Jinja Road police station had explained in court.

 Ainebye had further said that Nsimbe and his co-accused went into hiding when they learnt that they were wanted by the police.

However, Nsimbe returned four months later only to be arrested by police in the June.

(Additional reporting by Job Bwire)