Former Schalke player, Hiannick Kamba has been jailed for nearly four years after faking his own death in a car crash in his native Congo.
Kamba, now, 35, and his wife named only ‘Christina von G’ due to privacy laws have been sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison after being convicted of fraud after life insurance paid out £1m due to his arranged death.
The car accident was purported to have happened on January 9, 2016, after Kamba had travelled back to Congo. Three years later in 2019, Kamba was discovered alive and well in Ruhr, Germany.
According to Bild, he was working as a chemical technician at an energy supplier.
Bild reports on Wednesday that the prosecutor in the case believes the plan was hatched by the pair and that originally, they tried to take out an insurance plan worth £3.36m. It adds that the prosecutor believes the pair have since fallen out.
Bild added that Kamba refused to comment when approached but his attorney said that he has never seen any money that was paid out, while Christina von G protested her innocence and said of the ruling: ‘You lose faith in justice.’
In 2018 Kamba allegedly headed to the German embassy in Kinshasa to report the ‘fake news’ about his death.
He told the authorities that he was separated from his friends during a trip in Congo and left without any documents, money, or a telephone.
‘Kamba claims he was abandoned by friends overnight in Congo in January 2016 and left without documents, money and a cell phone,’ public prosecutor Anette Milk told the German newspaper.
When Kamba was pronounced dead in 2016, his ex-wife claimed a low, six-figure amount on his life insurance.
Kamba’s former club VfB Huls issued an obituary for Kamba in 2016, saying: ‘He represented the ideas and values ??of our club like few others. His demise will leave a big gap. Hiannick is undoubtedly a bitter sporting loss for us, but primarily we will miss it as a fellow human being.’
Kamba was considered a talented right-back, representing the Schalke youth team alongside Manuel Neuer.
