Ugandan businessman Jailes Bahati Mumbere, alias JB Mumbere, remains on the run after security operatives from the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) and Police CID raided his Ntinda offices last week over a $2 million (Shs 7.4 billion) gold scam.
Investigators accuse Bahati of defrauding a Congolese investor by promising to supply 1,500 kilograms of gold that never existed.
During the raid, Bahati who was inside his office at the time reportedly saw security operatives on CCTV cameras and fled through a secret exit. He scaled the perimeter wall but was badly wounded by barbed wire, leaving behind a trail of blood.
Despite the injuries, Bahati managed to vanish.
His known phone numbers remain switched off, and intelligence sources suspect he may be receiving treatment at a Kampala medical facility.
“We are hunting him down badly, and he will face the law,” a SHACU source said.
Workers Arrested, Cars Impounded
Security arrested 23 of his employees, now detained in different police cells across Kampala as files are processed with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for urgent court action.
Authorities also impounded 10 luxury vehicles from Bahati’s office, including a Ford Raptor, Ford Ranger, Mercedes Benz GLE, Benz Bluetec, Benz 4Matic, Toyota Hilux double cabin, Mark X, Noah, and Raum.
Bahati has long been linked to Kampala’s murky gold trade. As a representative of Blessed Riverstones Uganda Ltd, he frequently dismissed allegations of fraud, insisting his company was licensed, tax compliant, and targeted by malicious rivals.
Yet investigative reports earlier this year tied him to organized scams under the guise of mineral trading, and some associates claimed he operated under the alias “JB Mumbere.”
Gold has overtaken coffee as Uganda’s top export, but the sector is marred by fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion, often targeting foreign investors.
The Bahati affair now tests Uganda’s credibility, especially after President Yoweri Museveni assured local and foreign investors of protection from fraudsters.
For now, the Congolese investor’s $2 million loss remains unrecovered, Bahati’s workers face prosecution, and the man himself is a fugitive — wounded, in hiding, and the subject of an intense manhunt.
