By Mulengera Reporters
A shocking bank scandal has erupted after Ugx 69 million mysteriously disappeared from a customer’s account in just five minutes, leaving behind a trail of fear, anger and serious questions about the safety of money in Uganda’s banking system.
The man at the center of the storm is Chinese investor Zhou Shengjian, who says his hard-earned money was stolen from his account at Diamond Trust Bank Uganda in a lightning-fast electronic raid that took place in June 2021.
According to documents and police investigations, the fraud was executed with frightening speed. In just five minutes, Ugx 69,000,000 was removed from Zhou Shengjian’s account and immediately split into five different bank accounts belonging to suspected fraudsters. Within another 20 minutes, the money was quickly withdrawn again from those accounts before the bank could detect what was happening.
The speed of the theft has raised serious alarm. In less than half an hour, millions of shillings had vanished from the banking system without any warning alarms stopping the transactions.
Investigations by the Uganda Police Criminal Investigations Directorate later revealed that the money had been transferred using mobile banking applications. Yet Zhou Shengjian insists he had never been actively using such a platform in the way the transactions were carried out.
The fraud trail led investigators to several suspects whose accounts received the money. Among them were Henry Mwanja, Jesse Jonathan Kulaba, Cabei Rodriguez Filspe and Isaac Kacence Katende.
Police records show that once the money landed in these accounts, the withdrawals started immediately. At one point, Mwanja reportedly withdrew money several times using withdrawal vouchers and cheques, including amounts of Ugx 1 million, Ugx 15 million and other smaller withdrawals on the same day. Katende Isaac Kacence is also recorded to have withdrawn millions using withdrawal vouchers shortly after the funds arrived.
In total, about Ugx 52 million from the stolen funds was withdrawn across several bank branches in Kampala including Ntinda, Kampala Road and IPS branches on the same day the fraud occurred.
Investigators later concluded that weaknesses in the bank’s systems had allowed hackers to access the account and transfer the money without detection.
But what has angered the victim even more is what happened next.
Despite police investigations identifying suspects and highlighting system failures, the bank has allegedly refused to refund the stolen money.
For four long years, the investor’s camp says they have been moving from office to office demanding justice. His lawyers from Atlas Advocates in Kampala formally wrote to the bank in May 2023 accusing it of negligence and failure to protect customer deposits.
The law firm’s letter argued that the bank’s system failed to detect suspicious transactions, allowed large transfers from an account that had never used such a platform before and permitted suspected fraudsters to withdraw large sums without questioning the source of the money.
The lawyers warned that the bank’s actions showed a serious lack of care toward its customer.
But the bank pushed back strongly.
In an official response signed by Head of Legal Henry Ssenkeezi and Head of Forensic Investigations Sandra Wanyama, the bank insisted it had done nothing wrong. The bank claimed that the disputed transactions were successfully initiated through the customer’s registered mobile banking platform using his phone number and a device connected to his account.
The bank therefore concluded that it was not responsible for the lost money.
That response has only fueled the anger of Zhou Shengjian and his legal team.
Now the dispute has taken a dramatic turn. The investor is openly accusing the bank’s Executive Director Mbabazi K Emejeit of protecting the fraudsters instead of standing with the customer who lost his money.
He claims the leadership at the bank has blocked every effort to have the money refunded, even after evidence from police investigations pointed to weaknesses in the bank’s own system.
The investor’s camp now says the situation is bigger than just his money. Zhou Shengjian warns that such incidents could scare away investors from Uganda if banks fail to protect customer funds.
He believes the case sends a dangerous message to the world that money in Ugandan banks may not be safe.
The matter has also been raised with the Bank of Uganda, which regulates financial institutions in the country. Lawyers warned that if the issue is not resolved quickly, they will escalate the case to the central bank and possibly to court.
If the matter goes to court, the bank could face demands not only to refund the Ugx 69 million but also to pay years of accumulated interest dating back to 2021.
Meanwhile the case continues to stir debate among business people and investors who are now watching closely to see whether the banking system will protect customers or leave them to fight alone after fraud strikes.
Four years after the money disappeared in just five minutes, the Ugx 69 million is still missing, the suspects are known, and the battle between a determined investor and a powerful bank is far from over. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
