City socialite Suleiman Kabangala aka SK Mbuga is on the verge of gaining freedom after almost two years behind bars.
Sources from Sweden have stated that court ordered for Mbuga’s release, after prosecution failed to adduce incriminating evidence about the socialite’s alleged fraud charges, and hopefully Mbuga might be free on Friday.
Mbuga was thrown in Swedish prison for allegedly conniving with his wife Vivienne Chebet Mbuga to swindle over 53 million Swedish Krona (About Shs23 billion) from Vivienne’s Swedish boyfriend Sten Heinsoo in 2017.
Chebet is also facing the same charges here in Uganda.
Who is SK Mbuga
Born February 14, 1983, Mbuga was raised in Kimanya, Masaka District in the family of Hajji Suleiman Mbuga.
Mbuga, the convict claims he comes from a big family that he doesn’t know his position or the number of siblings he has.
In 2017, he married Vivienne Chebet in a glamorous wedding and a reception at Kampala Serena hotel. Mbuga alleged that he spent over Shs3 billion on this wedding.
The couple is already blessed with a baby girl.
Mbuga’s raise to fame
Mbuga rose to fame because of his former girlfriend, singer Leilah Kayondo who introduced him to the ‘socialite life.’ He notes that he used to accompany Kayondo to bars, clubs and concerts were he was exposed to most people.
However, the relationship fell apart because of physical abuse. On many occasions, Kayondo reported Mbuga to police over physical abuse and at one time in 2016, the pencil sized socialite was put behind bars over a similar case.
But this breakup didn’t affect Mbuga’s social status, as he continued to live large, drive the latest cars, and splash money like he had a farm where he harvested it.
In Mbuga’s compound, he paraded the latest posh rides in town like Rolls Royce Ghost, Range Rover Sport, Hummer, Mercedes Benz, BMW X6, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Audi among others all with personalized number plats.
His lifestyle made him a standout socialite since he spent most of his time in Uganda, unlike other ‘Basama, and Sangoma‘ socialites who made news only in December.
How he accumulated his wealth
We can only see socialites spending money, but its source is always unknown, and Mbuga is not far from the rest.
Recently reports had it that Mbuga accumulates his wealth from fake gold dealings.
It was rumored that Mbuga and Jack Pemba defrauded a Chinese Gold dealer of Shs11 billion in 2016. He was then involved in another gold scam worth Shs937 million in Dubai in 2016 before fleecing over Shs23 billion with Vivienne from a Swedish national among other scams.
He has refuted all this, claiming during previous interview, that he runs some businesses in Abu Dhabi and South Africa that he was uncomfortable to talk about in public.
“All I can tell you is that I am an international commission’s agent for different companies. I get a salary through commission, and I am also a developer,” he said then.
Despite the alleged gold scams, Mbuga tried his hand at the transport business, purchasing a fleet of buses through Ayla Bus Express. We yet to know what became of the dream.
He has also constructed a hospital in Kabalagala with hopes of making it the best health facility in the country, equipped with the latest machines, helicopter ambulance, among other world class equipment’s, to save people from travelling abroad for treatment.
Tamale Mirundi, a former presidential aide has since claimed that it is for this reason that he has languished in jail for this long because ‘mafia’ don’t want him to complete it and put them to shame.
His brother Abudallah also claimed that he was framed by some mafias in government.
How his lavish lifestyle crushed
Mbuga’s world started crumbling after his anem became synonymous with gold scam cases. Too serious it was that he was even listed by Interpol among ‘Most Wanted Criminals’.
In February 2018, he was arrested in Dubai and thrown into Al Awiir Central Prison, Dubai. A year later, he was extradited to Sweden for having his name imprinted on another fake gold deal.
It is with this background that Mbuga’s assets were allegedly put on sale to raise money that was needed to bail him from prison. Since then, his house, rentals in Munyonyo and Kabalagala plus posh cars and other assets were sold off.
Will he start from zero now that he is set to return to Uganda and to his adoring wife and ‘partner’?
We wait and see.
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