The Kampala Central Deputy Mayor, Hanipher Mpungu, has been remanded to Luzira Prison by the Nakawa Chief Magistrates Court. She faces charges of obtaining money under false pretenses. Mpungu appeared in court before Chief Magistrate Ritah Neumbe Kidasa on Wednesday.
The allegation against her is that between May and June 2022 in Ntinda, Kampala district, she fraudulently obtained Shillings 450 million from Grave Tony Mulinde Lugayuzi, promising to sell him land but failing to do so. Despite her claims of innocence, Mpungu’s bail application was postponed because the Resident State Attorney, Doreen Elima, is currently on leave.
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Consequently, Mpungu was returned to prison, and her next court appearance is scheduled for September 20th, 2023. She was appointed as Deputy Mayor by the Kampala Central Urban Council Division Mayor Salim Uhuru in July 2021. If she is found guilty, the offense she is charged with carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.
The charge reads, “Any person who, by any false pretense and with intent to defraud, obtains anything capable of being stolen from another person or induces another person to deliver anything capable of being stolen, commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for five years.”
Records indicate that Mpungu was previously released on police bond on August 12th, 2022, but failed to comply with the conditions. She was subsequently summoned to court on August 23rd, 2023. Allegedly, her lawyer falsely claimed she was admitted to the Wellington Diabetes and Heart Centre Nakasero.
However, Detective AIP Peter Abwona’s investigation found no evidence of her presence at that hospital. An affidavit by Abwona states, “On the 31st day of August 2023, the accused, who had earlier claimed to be admitted at Wellington Diabetes and Heart Centre Nakasero, was intercepted and arrested while attending a party with her children in Nangabo Kasangati.”
The disputed land is reported to belong to the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council. It’s worth noting that this is not the first time the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council has been involved in property-related fraud. In 2020, three individuals were remanded to Kitalya prison for conspiring to steal over Shillings 444 million from the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council in a software scam.
The accused allegedly received the money through an ex parte court order issued by the interdicted Masaka High Court Registrar, Cissy Mudhasi, in favor of Ram Engineering Uganda Limited, with an arbitrator only identified as I. Tugumisirize.
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