South Sudan mystery tycoon Lawrence Malong has been remanded to Luzira Prison until April 4, for defrauding an Ethiopian businessman of Shs7.03 billion through gold deal gone bad.
Malong, 30, was remanded alongside Congolose Mike Lota Okitalunyi and Gavana T. Zikusoka, a Ugandan businessman by Buganda Road court Grade One Magistrate Ketty Acaya.
Court heard that they obtained the money from Dessie Wagnew, an Ethiopian by falsely pretending that they were selling to him 150kg of gold.
They denied the charges.
It is alleged that Wagnew met Malong through a friend who told him that Malong had a gold trading licence. The friend also told Wagnew that Malong can help him export gold to Dubai and Hong-Kong.
Swiftly, Wagnew loaned his house in South Africa for $1.9million which he used to finance the deal.
Malong however, failed to deliver the said gold even after receiving the money.
Now, he risks losing the said house.
Malong came to prominence for posting photos of himself lying on dollar bills worth about $1 million.
“My Lord Jesus Christ blessed me; I fly on private jets… I live in Presidential suites… I am blessed,” he told Kenyan journalist Jeff Koinange.
An investigative report in Kenya once suggested that he was the stepson of General Paul Malong, one of the few powerful people who allegedly gained massive wealth from South Sudan’s civil war and stashed them in foreign banks.
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