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Michael Ezra Mulyoowa, also known as Michael Ezra Kato,[1] is a controversial Ugandan businessman who has been repeatedly indicted on criminal charges.[2][3] He is reported to own Sunspace International, a holding company registered in the Seychelles, and a founding patron of the Ezra Track Team Board, a sports philanthropic financing and talent search agency. He is a philanthropist known for his donations towards sporting causes in his home country in the early 2000s[4]
Early life
Born in Kampala, Uganda on 20 July 1973,[5] Michael Ezra is a former Uganda national team sprinter.
He was born to Beatrice Nantongo, a retired Commissioner with the Uganda Police. He is the second of five siblings with two sisters, Hope and Beatrice, and two brothers, Patrick and Martin. He is an alumnus of Kitante Primary and Makerere College Schools.
Since around 2003 he has been a subject of intrigue in the local Ugandan media, especially the tabloids, being praised and vilified in almost equal measure.
ETTB established national athletics camps across Uganda with the aim of scouting talent.
In February Michael Ezra unsuccessfully made a £60 million stg bid to buy then English Premiership club Leeds United,[7] causing the club's shares to go up by 14% as a result.[8]
In March he extended sponsorship to boxing, where he spent roughly US$500,000 in a qualification campaign and a nine-month camp for the Uganda national boxing team, The Bombers, in the run-up to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.[9][10][11][12]
In November he paid over a US$250,000 for an exclusive Mont Blanc wristwatch.[15][16] The "one of one" timepiece was the object of an Emirates auction commemorating 100 years of Mont Blanc.[17] The timepiece was handed over to the Ugandan Businessman by His Highness Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum in Dubai.[18]
In December he was named the man of the year by a public poll held annually by The New Vision, the largest media house in Uganda. He was the runner-up for four years: from 2003 and 2005 and in 2007; running up to the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni.[19]
2007
In September, he awarded The Cranes US$100,000. Awarding the coach $15,000, two assistant coaches $2,500 each and the 16 player squad $5,000 each after they beat Niger 3–1 in a qualifier.[20]
2008
In May he went shopping for an A380 from the French aircraft maker Airbus to be used as a private jet.[21]
2009
In July a US$5.93 million scam targeting him was discovered. The perpetrator was an American internet con artist.[22]
2010
In October while touring Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi Kenya, he informed the Daily Monitor of his offer to the Uganda Cranes of US$650,000 should they qualify to the 2012 African Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. He has also thrown in an additional US$50,000 if they won the Group J qualifier against Kenya's Harambee Stars on 9 October 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya. The $650,000 was broken down as follows: 18 Players – $30,000 each, Coach – $60,000, Assistant Coach(es) – $25,000, Goalkeeping Coach – $25,000.[23]
2011
In October he, true to his philanthropic style, said he will award the Uganda Cranes half of the earlier pledge of US$650,000 despite them not qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations.[24]
Controversies
In August 1999, Ezra was arrested and charged with using fake ID to present himself as an officer of the Directorate of Military Intelligence and using to this to try to extort US$50,000.[1] He pled guilty to three counts of impersonation, contrary to section 360 of the Penal Code Act, demanding money by menaces contrary to section 279 of the Penal Code Act and forgery, and was released after a fine.[1]
In August 2010, upon arrival in his home country, the local media reported that Michael Ezra had not remitted taxes to the tune of USh 1.1 billion (approximately US$500,000) to the Uganda government. This prompted the tax body, the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), to request a travel ban on him and the freezing of his assets.[25] Around the same time it was alleged that Michael Ezra was ordered by the Commercial Court in Uganda to pay back a loan of 430,000,000/= (approx. $195,000), plus interest, to National Bank of Commerce (Uganda).[26]
In September 2010, he called a press conference at the luxurious Emin Pasha hotel in Kampala and displayed a stack of $3 million dollars as though to prove that he was not broke as alleged in the Ugandan media.[27][28] In October 2010, Ugandan police issued summons against Ezra for two bounced cheques worth 2 billion shillings.[29] Ezra, who left Uganda, claimed his payments had been blocked because he owed the Ugandan Revenue Authority 1.6 million shillings.[29]
In February 2011, Michael Ezra was arrested by the Kenyan police. It was said Ezra had not honoured court summons to defend himself against allegations that he issued a cheque worth $200,000, which was dishonoured, to a Kenyan company.[30] Ezra, through his lawyers, denied the charges. His lawyer argued that the offence was a misdemeanor and bailable. He further argued that Ezra was a prominent international businessman who owned numerous properties in Kenya and was not arrested but handed himself to the authorities and therefore was not a flight risk. The Judge granted him bail of KSh 6,000,000/= ($78,000).[31] Ezra's lawyer claimed in court that a Kenyan businessman was framing his client with the intention of extorting money from him.[32]
In February 2012 and again in July 2013, he was charged in a Kenyan court with issuing bounced cheques, but was acquitted on both charges since "the prosecution had not proved its case beyond reasonable doubt".[33][34]
