CID opens money laundering charges against prisons impersonator

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Police have opened charges of money laundering against Gerald Muntuyera, a prisons services impostor who was arrested last week on allegations of conning more than 100 million from unsuspecting traders.

Muntuyera was arrested by Criminal Investigations Directorate detectives after it emerged that he had allegedly conned nine people claiming he was a prisons officer attached to Isimba prisons farm in Masindi district.

CID spokesperson Charles Twine said a new file of money laundering has been opened to ensure that all proceeds of Muntuyera’s fraudulent tricks are identified, restrained and later on seized.

Twine said seizing Muntuyera’s property accumulated from conning people would enable victims to recover their money. CID said landing Muntuyera a jail term would not be of help to people who lost a lot of their hard-earned money.

One of the victims of Muntuyera is Hebert Mwinganiza, a third-year student of Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture and Rural Innovations at Makerere University.

Mwinganiza says that he was locked up by his boss last month after the suspect conned him of 8.6 million shillings. He explained that the suspect posted a message in Masindi agriculture producer’s Whatsapp group last month claiming that Isimba Prison was stuck with plenty of maize and needed urgent buyers.

Another victim is Dennis Orech, a produce trader from Lira who allegedly lost 16 million shillings to Muntuyera and his group. While at CID, Orech said he received a call from Muntuyera who introduced himself as Asaba Moses, the Officer in charge of Isimba.

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