Congolese charged with Sh156 million fraud in fake tantalum niobium ore export

A Congolese man has been charged before a Nairobi with conspiracy to defraud a Chinese company of over Sh156 million in fake export of precious minerals.

Patrick Lumumba Ulundu was presented before chief magistrate Bernard Ochoi last week and was remanded in custody waiting for a ruling on whether he will be released on bond.

The Congolese allegedly lied that he would export tantalum niobium ore to China but ended up exporting sand to China instead of the minerals.

He is alleged to have committed the offences between August 7, 2023 and December 26, 2023.

Lumumba is accused of conspiring with others to steal USD1 million or Sh156 Million from Yingchen [shenzenhen] International Trade Company Limited.

The charge sheet stated that he purported to be in a position to sell 84 metric tonnes of Tantalum Niobium ore (Tantalite) to the Chinese company.

On the second count he is accused of allegedly obtaining $1 million or equivalent to Sh156 million from the company by falsely claiming that he could sell the company 84 metric tonnes of tantalum niobium.

The prosecution opposed Lumumba’s release on bail saying he was a flight risk.

Mr Charles Otieno, a police officer said Lumumba is likely to flee the country if released.

The court was informed that the suspect has two passports.

The court was told that the accused entered the country using an interstate pass and using a Ugandan identity card.

The officer told the court that Lumumba’s true identity is unknown as he has two aliases both captured in the travel documents as well as Ugandan identification card.

“The state is apprehensive that if he is released without his identity established he could escape the jurisdiction of the court and we would not know who escaped.”

On the defence’s part, he urged the court to release the accused on reasonable bail and bond terms.

He argued that the accused was lawfully in Kenya and that nothing prevents him from having two passports.

“Argument that the accused person came into the country through interstate pass while annexing Ugandan Identification card is evidence that he was lawfully in the country.”

The court was told that the accused has been a resident of Impala Street apartments in Nyali within Mombasa County for the past two years.

“Courts have variously granted foreigners bail and bond terms and withheld their passport to ensure they don’t escape the jurisdiction of this court.

“The court has all the apparatus to ensure once he is given bail he will attend court.”

Lumumba is involved in scam where two containers filled with sand declared as tantalum minerals were intercepted in the port of Mombasa has been arrested by the Operations Support Unit (OSU) of the DCI moments after touch down from Entebbe, Uganda.

He was cornered along Harambee Avenue in Nairobi, minutes after evading detection by Immigration officials at JKIA where a stop order had been placed on his passport in the names of Gabriel Kulonda Ilungu.

Determined to sneak back into the country and further his felonious activities, the suspect used a Ugandan Interstate pass card in the name of Lumumba Patrick Byarufu, and upon arrest was also found in possession of yet another Congolese passport in the name of Patrick Ulundu Lumumba.

In the case he is implicated, a female Chinese national lost Sh156 million to the suspect’s machinations after one of three containers declared to contain tantalum minerals was opened in China, only to be found loaded with drums of sand, triggering investigations at the port of Mombasa, the transit route.

In the preliminary stages, two 20 feet containers also containing sand had been found at the Mombasa port, before hawk-eyed sleuths intercepted a third one (40 feet) at a warehouse still at the port. Surpringly, the 40 feet container had passed the entire verification processes without any documentation.

This totalled to six, the number of containers of sand declared as tantalum minerals.

Detectives have since discovered that already, two more containers had been cleared and shipped to Dubai, and efforts are underway to have them intercepted. Some port officials believed to have compromised security checks to facilitate the illegal transactions are also being investigated.

But through the quick intervention of OSU hawkshaws, the ring of scammers never lived to reap as much as they had fraudulently worked for, after the bank account in which the Sh156 million was deposited at was frozen.

However, the syndicate had already obtained over Sh49 million along the way by working with suspected rogue bank officials who are under active investigations.