By Spy Uganda
Comedienne Ann Kansiime’s former United Kingdom based manager Johnson Mujungu, 53, is currently in coolers, after being convicted of money laundering together with his wife, by court in the UK.
Sources reveal that Maidstone Crown Court in the UK on Tuesday sentenced Mujungu and his wife Grace Ntolera-Mujungu, 42, after finding them guilty of money laundering and fraud.
Prosecution adduced evidence that Ntolera and Mujungu, both of Struttons Avenue, received payment of £120,000 illegally and transferred it onto different accounts linked to them both.
Evidence produced in court indicated that in August 2017, the victim received a call that he needed to pay inheritance tax to a firm of solicitors linked to his late grandmother’s estate. An email from the solicitors giving instructions on how to transfer the amount due was then sent.
However, the email was intercepted by the defendants and a different account was provided resulting in the victim paying them the money instead. When the victim realised the money had not been paid to the solicitors, he contacted the police and an investigation was launched.
Kent Police says their officers discovered the money had been paid into a business account owned by Ntolera-Mujungu and on receipt of the payment, it was immediately dispersed into several other bank accounts owned by her and her husband Johnson Mujungu.
However, on being netted, Ntolera-Mujungu denied charges of transferring and converting criminal property and Mujungu denied a charge of converting criminal property.
But last Tuesday a jury found them both guilty and they were sentenced on Friday 28 February 2020. Mujungu received two and a half years’ imprisonment and Ntolera-Mujungu was given an 18 month sentence, suspended for two years.
Kent Police investigating officer, Detective Constable Mark Newman of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said: ‘This fraud was particularly cruel because the victim had recently lost a family member and he then had to pay the inheritance tax twice. This couple used the money to pay off debts and pretended that it was a payment for a business transaction.”
He added that “I am pleased we have been able to track where the money went and bring those involved to justice. We will now be carrying out further enquiries under the Proceeds of Crime Act to establish whether any money can be returned. I hope that this outcome gives some consolation to the victim. He also revealed that Mujungu was Ann Kansime and singer Irene Namubiru’s international manager.
However, it should be noted that the same scenario happened to former popular promoter Sengo, who was famous for music promotion in the UK in the late 90s, but he ended up being arrested and caged over money laundering, something that killed his career.
