Until last Saturday evening when news of the demise of a Kampala based businessman started circulating on internet, Fred Kayitare was known to very few in Uganda.
However, in his calm demeanor he exuded a daredevil character that saw him amass wealth in a shortest time after relocating from Rwanda to Uganda in 2017.
However, in his quest for riches Kayitare whom we earlier named Kamaliza stepped on many compelling those who suffered his wrath to refer to a biblical proverb rooted in the book of Mathew chapter 26, verse 26 to 52.
This website has established that Kamaliza is his wife’s name, a gorgeous Burundian.
Fred carried a family name “Kayitare”, a successful and highly connected family of businessmen and women in Rwanda.
His father Kayitare and elder brother are into supply and closely work with Rwanda government.
However, Fred Kayitare chose a different path.
QUEST FOR QUICK WEALTH
The deceased, who breathed his last Friday following an attempt escape from CMI detention at Mbuya hill in Kampala, attained his education in United States.
While in America, Kayitare lived a lavish lifestyle. He was deported in 2013 on allegations of committing crimes related to cyber fraud.
Shortly after his deportation, Kayitare reportedly hacked into Eco Bank system and accessed 100,000 dollars from a dormant account. He executed the fraud with the help of other bank officials.
“He began living an extravagant life in Kigali. Driving very good cars. This prompted security to launch an investigation to know his source of income,” a source.
Kayitare was arrested and handed a 6-year jail term over fraud including his Eco bank accomplices.
“But because his family is well known, his mum is also related to a powerful army official, she negotiated, and his sentence was reduced to 3 years.” A source added.
But Kayitare had learnt and forgotten nothing! Shortly when he was out of prison, he designed another heist on Equity Bank Rwanda.
He worked with a bank official identified as Moses Ndayambage.
Kayitare made away with 170000 dollars. “This was again on a dormant account.”
“After the mission he ventured into transportation and exportation business. He was dealing in posho and beans.”
However, the bank reported a fraud case and Kayitare was named as a prime suspect together with Ndayambage.
As security moved to arrest him a day prior to his wedding, his mum again negotiated with authorities that he should be taken to jail immediately after the glamorous function.
“Majority of the guests at the wedding and in the entourage were security officials who were waiting for him to give his speech and they take him in,” a source added.
During the afterparty locally known as gutwikurura, Kayitare vanished leaving the bride in tears.
He resurfaced in Uganda.
How he evaded arrest remains unknown until today. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison in his absence. His accomplice Ndayambage was equally handed the same punishment.
Shockingly he never remitted any coin to all those he used to execute all his missions. Those known to him say he was a greedy man he only loved to impress his wife and children.
In Uganda he registered under the refugee scheme, and he obtained a national ID and passport.
He would later manipulate the system to have his wife Kamaliza join him in Uganda for permanent settlement.
In 2019 he executed another heist in Equity Bank in Kampala.
“He defrauded 50000 dollars. As usual those who worked inside the bank never got a single coin,” said a source.
He also ensured that the bank manager was arrested.
It is now a new trend in Uganda by sophisticated conmen to target banks, identify dormant account numbers with colossal sums of money using insiders.
Kayitare has been in and out of prison in Uganda. To date he has about 6 pending cases at the DPP’s office.
But as fate would have it, he recently planned another fraud in Cairo Bank.
Sources privy to forensic investigations say he engaged many parties to ensure the heist is stealthily conducted.
Among those he approached was a bank official and a telecom engineer whose roles was to disable notifications to the client when a transaction is made on his account.
Kayitare and his crew successfully removed $1million from an account in Cairo Bank.
“He then invited whoever was part of the mission at a hotel in Kampala to receive their share. Surprisingly at the hotel he had alerted security and it rounded off all his accomplices.”
The bank official was forced to flee Uganda while the telecom engineer was asked to choose between money and Luzira.
However, the bank manager would later whistle blow to security and revealed the person behind the heist.
That is how CMI operatives closed in on Kayitare at the beginning of last week.
He had used the money to procure a brand new GLE Mercedes Benz for his wife, he had also bought a sleek Range Rover model 2022, bought apartments in Mutungo and Luzira.
Fred Kayitare died last Friday.
His body will be flown to his native home in Rwanda for burial slated for Sunday