Fake minerals kingpin jailed over Sh151million Tantalum scam
Ulundu Patrick Lumumba, also known by multiple aliases including Gabriel Kulonda and Lumumba Patrick Byarufu, was found guilty of obtaining money by false pretences contrary to Section 313 of the Penal Code and sentenced to pay a fine of Sh10 million or serve three years in prison.
A man accused of orchestrating a multi-million-shilling fake minerals scheme that defrauded a Chinese investor of Sh151 million has today been convicted and sentenced by the Milimani Magistrates Court.
Ulundu Patrick Lumumba, also known by multiple aliases including Gabriel Kulonda and Lumumba Patrick Byarufu, was found guilty of obtaining money by false pretences contrary to Section 313 of the Penal Code and sentenced to pay a fine of Sh10 million or serve three years in prison.
The conviction marks a major breakthrough in one of the country’s high-profile fake minerals cases, which exposed how fraudulent export documentation and identity manipulation were used to defraud foreign investors in the mining sector.
The court also ordered that Sh151 million be refunded to the Chinese investor who was defrauded in the elaborate scheme involving the alleged export of tantalum minerals that were later found to be nothing but sand.
In delivering the judgment, the court said the prosecution had sufficiently proved that Lumumba masterminded a coordinated transnational fraud network that deceived investors and exploited mineral export processes for financial gain.
The case dates back to a sophisticated scheme in which containers declared as containing tantalum—an expensive and high-demand mineral—were shipped under false documentation. Investigations later revealed that the consignments were filled with sand instead of minerals.
The deception was uncovered after a Chinese investor reportedly paid Sh151 million for the shipments, only for one of the containers opened abroad to be found to contain drums of sand.
Subsequent inspections at the Port of Mombasa exposed additional containers with similar contents, confirming a wider fraud operation spanning multiple shipments and jurisdictions.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Operations Support Unit arrested Lumumba on April 5, 2024, shortly after he arrived in Nairobi from Entebbe, Uganda. Investigators said he attempted to re-enter Kenya using alternative identities despite a stop order placed on one of his travel documents.
Authorities also recovered multiple travel documents bearing different identities during his arrest, with investigators establishing that he used several names in the course of the alleged scheme, including Gabriel Kulonda Ilungu and Lumumba Patrick Byarufu.
Further investigations linked him to financial transactions involving millions of shillings believed to have been obtained through the fraudulent mineral export deals.
Detectives also traced additional shipments at the Port of Mombasa that were falsely declared as tantalum consignments but were found to contain sand.
The court noted that the elaborate nature of the scheme pointed to a well-coordinated criminal enterprise that misled international investors and undermined legitimate mineral trade.
Lumumba was sentenced to a fine of Sh10 million, with a default sentence of three years’ imprisonment should he fail to pay.
The court further ordered the restitution of Sh151 million to the victim as compensation for the losses incurred.
