Financial Intelligence Authority to probe Dfcu Bank MD Kisaame’s $40m cash in local bank

By Patrick Jaramogi
KAMPALA, Uganda: There is growing tension, anxiety and untold fears at the Dfcu bank, the Investigator can reveal. The latest is the leakage of the top boss’ starched US$40 million in one of the commercial Banks.
We can now reveal that the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA), the government agency tasked with the monitoring, investigating and the prevention of money laundering in the country has already got some ‘home work’ to do. The task is to ascertain how Juma Kisaame, the managing director of Dfcu Bank had $ 40 million (shs150b) in his Bank of Africa account especially amidst controversies regarding the suspected ‘fraudulent’ purchase of the defunct Crane Bank Limited.

Media reports has been awash with a leaked Bank of Africa statements belonging to Juma Kisaame. According to the bank statements printed from 1 March 31st July 2016, Juma Kisaame had in his Bank of Africa dollar account Number: 01087990270 a whopping USD 40 million. This statement was printed on 14th July 2018. The Investigator established that the cash was deposited as at 1st March 2016. Though by the time of statement print, only $ 688 was reflecting as balance, majority having been cashed out.

The leak comes at the time when the Auditor General just released reports indicating that the process under which Dfcu ‘bought’ Crane Bank from BoU wasn’t transparent given that fact that Dfcu was the valuer turned purchaser of the same bank.

Though the FIA boss, Sydney Asubo couldn’t reveal further, inside sources at the Ministry of Finance parent body revealed to The Investigator in confidence that Kisaame would be summoned to have some ‘explanations’. “That is work already for us. We shall have him to explain how and where the funds came from. It is part of our mandate as FIA,” said a close source who preferred not to be named.

The Auditor General revealed that Dfcu negotiated with authorities at Bank of Uganda to buy Crane Bank Limited at Shs200 billion but as per the report, only Shs90 billion has so far been paid to the Central Bank, raising other serious audit and transparent queries.

We can now also state that the MDs woes are far from over, now with his bank transactions leakages after his attempts to resign in a stormy meeting held in South Africa last week blocked his resignation. The shareholders strongly rejected his resignation that he had tendered in.

Reports are rife that Dfcu was lured by top bosses at BoU to takeover Crane Bank, but the bosses, whom we shall not name today, area now living under the ‘storm’ The biggest question that is ringing now is whether or not the Dfcu bank is facing a liquidity crisis. This revelation came to the light when the bank’s board chair, Elly Karuhanga acknowledged, expressing worries about the banks’ stand. We have established that the bank has already phasing off some of its branches including the Entebbe Highway Abayita Ababiri branch.

As if that is not enough, scores of departure by top managers has been registered of late. The latest including the resignation of the banks Executive Director William Sekabembe. We have learnt he is set to join Kenya’s giant bank KCB. He was apparently the man that was set to replace the current managing director following a thorough grooming by the bank

Dfcu has never ceased to be out of the storm ever since they ‘controversially’ purchased Crane Bank in January 2017. The intelligence authorities will now have the task of investigating how the alleged transaction between Dfcu and BoU where about $3 million of the $8 million deposited by shareholders of Crane bank to BoU was instead shared between top individuals at Dfcu and leading lawyers.

When contacted for comment, regarding why within a short period, two leading top officials, Dr. Deepak Malik, the representative of the Arise Bv, the biggest percentage shareholders of the bank (58.71%) has resigned, the board chair, Elly Karuhanga was cagey.