TAKEAWAYS

• Bad Black says she was jailed for embezzlement, not theft, and insists the two are very different.
• She was sentenced in 2012 and released in March 2016, serving about 3 years and 8 months.
• The socialite also clarified that she was born in 1989 and is 36 years old.

Ugandan socialite Shanita Namuyimbwa, popularly known as Bad Black, has defended her controversial prison past, insisting that she was never convicted of theft but of embezzlement.

Speaking during an interview on Sanyuka TV, Bad Black revisited the case that sent her to Luzira Prison in 2012 after she was convicted over the embezzlement of billions of shillings from Daveshan Development Ltd, a company she co-owned with her British ex-lover David Greenhalgh.

Bad Black was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzlement and also faced two counts of conspiracy to defraud. However, she did not serve the entire sentence and was released in March 2016, meaning she spent close to three years and eight months in and out of prison custody.

“My charge sheet did not have theft. It had embezzlement,” Bad Black said during the interview.

She went on to brag about the distinction, claiming that embezzlement required brains and should not be confused with ordinary stealing.

“Not everyone can embezzle money. It takes someone smart,” she added.

Bad Black also used the interview to address long-standing public speculation about her age. According to the outspoken socialite, many Ugandans assume she is much older simply because she has been in the limelight for years.

She revealed that she was born in 1989, making her 36 years old in 2026. To prove it, she even called her mother live on air, who confirmed the claim.

Bad Black further explained that she was still very young when she burst onto Uganda’s social scene and, as a school dropout who became famous early, many people wrongly assume she is older than she actually is.