Businessman Mukesh remanded over alleged fraud of more than shs221 million

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Nakawa Chief Magistrates Court has remanded businessman cum politician Mukesh Shukla to Luzira Prison on charges of conspiracy to defraud  a Pakistan National’s company of more than 221.8 million shillings.

Mukesh was on Wednesday arraigned before Court presided over by the Chief Magistrate Elias Kakooza  and charged with obtaining money by false pretense  and conspiracy to defraud.

The Court has heard that Mukesh Shukla who is jointly charged with his company Shumuk Investments Limited and his employees Judith Ayebare the Manager and Kadikar Dramdip Anilkumar the Accountant who have not yet been arrested,  with intent to defraud obtained 27,950 Dollars (105 million shillings) and 116,635,000 shillings from Alvi Auto Village Limited pretending that they were leasing/renting two plots of land to the said company whereas not.

According to the evidence before Court, the said crime was committed between the months of November 2020 and November 2021 between Banda Industrial Area and Nakawa Industrial Area  Kampala District.

Mukesh who was arrested earlier in the day and rushed to court immediately has denied the charges and through his lawyer Patrick Bwango applied for bail. His lawyer said Mukesh is an outstanding member of of the community having stood as former Nakawa West Parliamentary Elections  .

He said the 61-year old Mukesh is a family man with a wife and children, has a permanent place of abode and has been  LC2 chairman for more than  20 years.

Bwango said the offence is bailable and doesn’t involve violence and that he offence is about money that was paid to his company and not directly to him.

He noted that Mukesh is willing to reconcile with the complaint and seeks an opportunity to do so  before a mediator and  is willing to deposit 20 million shillings for a start as a gesture of good faith and a sign of willingness to reconcile.

Court has heard that Mukesh had three substantial sureties but the Court didn’t allow him to proceed to present them after Prosecution ‘s Kuluthum Mariam said  she had not had an opportunity to peruse the  voluminous file and other suspects are still at large .

“I can’t inform court how far are investigations.  We pray for an adjournment. Your Worship, I have been in court since morning, I am sick, am tired I haven’t eaten also,” said the Prosecutor.

” There is a civil suit pending before the commercial court . We pray he is granted bail pending the outcome of the reconciliation process,” said Bwango.

The Chief Magistrate has decided to allow the Prosecution’s request and remanded Mukesh until May 17th 2024. The evidence before Court shows that the employees of Mukesh’s company Shumuk Investments Limited Ayebare and Dharam walked into the office of Alvi Auto Village Limited in October 2020 with a Business proposal .

That the Director of Alvi Auto Village Limited Shahid Mahmood Alvi was informed that Mukesh and his company were the owners of plots 148/253 located at Mukabya Road (opposite Spear Motors) which they were willing to offer to Alvi Auto Village Limited to rent/lease for purposes of creating a new car bonded warehouse.

Records show that it was agreed by the parties to the November 1st 2020  contract that the tenancy would only commence when Mukesh completed construction works on the said plots such as paving the entire land for car park and securing a licence to operate a new  car bond ware house.

As a result, that Mukesh ‘s company Shumuk Investments Limited received 195 million shillings being rental fees paid in advance by Alvi Auto Village Limited. However that nearly almost a year later without any constructions being done on the land , out of frustration , Alvi wrote to Mukesh asking for a refund but he was ignored.

That on October 30th 2021 after several calls and meetings , Mukesh allegedly convinced Alvi to execute a new tenancy agreement for plot 1509/232 as a substitute land for the first land at Mukabya Road. This was after Alvi discovered that the land had disputed ownership ,as per the evidence before Court.

Evidence also shows that Mukesh and his company asked the complainant to top up 50 million shillings such that he is given the land in Banda instead and failure to develop it, they would refund all his monies.

Records show that Alvi paid 30 million shillings in advance  but by November 26th 2021, they had not yet paved the land upto now. And as a result that on December 14th 2021, Mukesh wrote back to Alvi in what he described as a vague letter asking him to make a further deposit of 20 million shillings if he wanted the substituted land in Banda .

Records show that Alvi was frustrated and decided to lodge a coming at CID Headquarters which summoned both parties on May 5th 2022 before his lawyers could issue an intention to sue for recovery of more than 225 million shillings.

There are now both civil and criminal proceedings against Mukesh and his company in the courts of law. Alvi has told Our Rrporter that Mukesh is trying to manipulate the court by saying that he wants to opt for reconciliation and mediation.

Whereas Mukesh is presumed to be innocent on these charges, his image is already tainted before the Courts law . This is after Mukesh in October 2022 was convicted on six counts of uttering a false document in form of a letter for the official handover of Hotel Diplomat Muyenga , purporting the same to have been signed by the late Bonny Katatumba the former Consular of Uganda to Pakistan and his other family members.

For this specific conviction, Mukesh was sentenced to pay a fine of 2 million shillings fine on each count or else go to prison for two years. He opted for a fine and had regained his freedom until today.

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