UBA SH108M FRAUD SHOCKER! Bank Staff Cited in ‘Inside Job’ as Afghan Man’s Compensation Is Drained in ‘Impossible’ Deal, Exposing Systematic Bank Failures
United Bank for Africa (UBA) has been ordered to pay more than Sh128 million after the High Court in Mbale found the bank liable for allowing a fraudster to open an account in another man’s name, receive his compensation and withdraw Sh108.23 million despite glaring red flags.
The explosive judgment has raised fresh questions about possible internal failures and the role of bank staff who processed the account, particularly after court heard that employees involved in opening the suspicious account were subjected to disciplinary action.
Justice Farouq Lubega ordered UBA to refund Sh108.23 million to Michael Wilson Mazuno, the money that was fraudulently withdrawn from an account opened in his name, and awarded him another Sh20 million in general damages.
The bank was also ordered to pay the costs of the suit, with the total award attracting eight percent annual interest from September 7, 2026 until payment is made in full.
Mazuno had sued UBA in 2024 for negligence, fraud, breach of duty of care and conversion after discovering that an impostor had opened an account using his identity and subsequently received his compensation from the United States Department of Labor.
The case exposes what appears to have been a spectacular breakdown in the bank’s customer verification and transaction monitoring systems.
According to court records, Mazuno had been working in Afghanistan as an armed security guard for American private security company Trip Canopy Global Operations Inc. when he fell from a guard tower in 2020 and suffered serious injuries, including spinal damage, hearing impairment and psychological trauma.
He later pursued compensation through his lawyers before the United States Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs.
His lawyers eventually informed him that his claim had been settled and that US$30,000 had been approved and remitted to an account in his name at UBA.
But when Mazuno followed up on the money, he discovered that someone had beaten him to his own compensation.
Court found that an account bearing Mazuno’s name and NIN had been opened at UBA on April 22, 2023, but the photograph attached to the account belonged to an entirely different person.
The account subsequently received Sh108.23 million, which was withdrawn in two instalments on August 10 and 11, 2023.
And this is where the bank’s internal controls came under the microscope.
Justice Lubega found that UBA had failed to properly verify the photograph of the person presenting Mazuno’s NIN and had also failed to verify the physical address supplied when the account was opened.
The court further found it suspicious that the account had been opened only months before receiving more than Sh108 million, after which virtually the entire amount was removed.
Even more striking was the fact that the account had a daily withdrawal limit of Sh15 million, yet the money was withdrawn in a manner that the judge found should have triggered further scrutiny.
The court described the circumstances as red flags that should have prompted additional due diligence and intervention by the bank to prevent the suspected fraud.
The judgment also relied on evidence from a former UBA branch manager, who told court that bank employees involved in opening the account had subsequently faced disciplinary action.
That revelation has raised uncomfortable questions about what happened inside the bank when the account was being opened and how an impostor managed to get through the bank’s customer verification process using another person’s identity.
While the judgment does not establish that the disciplined employees colluded with the fraudster, their involvement and subsequent disciplinary action have put the spotlight firmly on UBA’s internal controls and staff conduct.
Justice Lubega ultimately found that the bank had failed to exercise the required care and good faith when opening the account and allowing the funds to be withdrawn.
“I find that the Defendant Bank acted fraudulently in opening Bank Account No. 0768025176 without properly verifying the identity and physical address of the purported account holder,” the judge stated.
UBA had attempted to distance itself from liability, arguing that Mazuno was not its customer and therefore the bank did not owe him a duty of care.
The argument failed.
Justice Lubega ruled that a bank’s duty of care can extend to third parties where negligent or unlawful conduct causes foreseeable harm.
The judge also rejected the bank’s argument that it could not be held responsible because it was not UBA itself that physically took Mazuno’s money.
Instead, the court found that UBA’s own failures created the circumstances that enabled the financial loss.
The ruling means UBA must now shoulder the cost of a fraud in which a stranger allegedly walked into the banking system using Mazuno’s identity, received a huge compensation payment and walked away with the money.
Beyond the Sh108.23 million refund, Justice Lubega awarded Mazuno Sh20 million in general damages, taking into account the trauma and financial burden he suffered while pursuing recovery of his compensation, on top of the serious injuries he had already sustained in Afghanistan.
However, the judge declined to award exemplary damages, saying that imposing an additional punitive award would be excessive after ordering the bank to compensate Mazuno and pay general damages.
The case has nevertheless left a bigger question hanging over UBA’s systems: How did an impostor get an account opened using another man’s NIN and a different photograph, receive more than Sh108 million months later, and successfully withdraw the money despite the glaring red flags?
For the court, the answer lay squarely in the bank’s failure to exercise the required care.
And for UBA, the judgment could prove far more costly than the Sh128 million award if it triggers deeper scrutiny of how staff vet customers, who approves suspicious accounts, how withdrawal limits are monitored and what happens when internal red flags are ignored.
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