The Flying Squad Unit (FSU) officers have arrested Oscar Kyabukasa Lutaaya, a man accused of defrauding 724 million Shillings from Buzaya County MP Martin Muzaale Mugabi in a fuel transaction.
Mugabi explains that he was approached and convinced by Lutaayato to enter a joint venture agreement under his trade company Martz Contractors Limited with the five people trading under Petrom Limited. The purpose of the joint venture was to buy fuel from Oryx Energies and then sell it to Stabex International.
The transaction process that started in October last year, was concluded on February 7, when Lutaaya confirmed to Mugabi that two trucks of fuel had been delivered to Stabex international. on the said date, Lutaaya’s accomplice Malcolm Tonny Kasitiro, disguising as Dan Cherotich-the General Manager of Stabex International called Mugabi confirming that he had received two trucks of diesel but Oryx Energies needed money before offloading it.
Mugabi then transferred 250 million Shillings from the Martz account at Equity Bank Bugolobi branch to the Oryx Energies account in Bank of Africa. He then sent an electronic fund transfer (EFT) confirmation to Lutaaya. But Lutaaya sent a fake confirmation message purportedly from Stabex International that they had offloaded fuel.
The message also claimed that 273 million Shillings was to be sent to Martz contractors within three days but this did not happen. When Mugabi sought an explanation on why money had not been sent to his company’s account, Lutaaya, according to investigators, started sending fake documents which included corporate guarantees and cheques purporting to be originating from Stabex International.
The Flying Squad Unit says that when Mugabi noticed that he had been duped, he filed a case on February 15, implicating Lutaaya as the main suspect. FSU operatives launched a hunt for Lutaaya alongside his accomplices three days ago. The other accomplices include Ongima Allan Walter, Ngobi Ali, Mulani Daniel Seb.
However, police have so far established that Lutaaya used his colleagues who thought it was a genuine fuel transaction but only to realise he was orchestrating a fraud. Detectives have also found out that Lutaaya has conned many people using similar tricks where he earns from a person he dupes with fuel but again sells it to another dealer.
“His major style of conning is through fuel dealings with other fuel dealers like Total, Stabex, Great Lakes. His deals are from 200 million and above. He uses different bank accounts to receive money. He has so far defrauded over 4 billion Shillings within one year,” An FSU investigator intimated to URN.
The other victims were hoodwinked with sharing profits and shares. They mobilised money and gave it to him but he ended up disappearing in thin air. Investigators have recommended bringing onboard bank managers where Lutaaya’s company Petrom Limited has accounts to help in tracking his transactions and spending.
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was Oscar Lutaaya cleared of this?