Flashy socialite gold scammer Lawrence Lual Malong Yor has been jailed for 6 years in Uganda.
Lual Malong alongside two others were found guilty of obtaining $1 million (about Sh107 million) via false pretenses.
In March 2019, there cases began. The three were remanded at Luzira Prison.
His accomplices, a Congolese nationality, Mr Mike Okitalunyi Lota and Mr Gavana Thaddeus Zikusooka alias James Byaruhanga, a businessman in Kajansi Central Town, Wakiso District, helped him dupe his victims by posing as gold dealers.
Malong had passed off to gold dealers as a son of a general in South Sudan during his dealings with the businessmen.
The prosecution contends that between February 2017 and December 2018 at different places in Kampala, Malong, Lota and Zikusooka obtained $1.9 million from businessman Wegnew Desire purporting that they were selling him 150kg of gold whereas not.
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Mr Malong, a businessman and socialite known for posting photographs of himself lying on the bed full of dollars, was arrested by the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) operatives in November 2018 in regard to investigations that linked him to gold scams in which several foreigners had lost billions of shillings.
How it happened
In an interview, Mr Wegnew a South African based businessman of Ethiopian origin explained that the suspects approached him purporting to sell him gold at $23,000 per kilogramme.
“When I paid them money for the kilogramme, they told me that the shipment was not possible for small amounts. They asked me for more money such that they can ship five kilogrammes. I flew to Dubai but while there, they called me to Uganda and they told me to give them more money such that they could sell me 150kgs,” he said.
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According to Mr Wegnew, Mr Malong offered himself as a license holder for gold trade while Mr Lota was the seller.
In the bid to raise money for the entire 150kgs, Mr Wegnew revealed that he acquired loans from South Africa where he is on the verge of losing both his businesses and his home.
Uganda unlike Kenya has given justice to the victims of gold scams.
In Kenya, gold scammers walk the streets, bribe DCI not to take their photos after arrest.
Revealed: Lawyer Tom Ngoe Bribes Authorities To Go Slow On His Gold Scams
