Parliament grills BoU Governor and team for not having documents regarding bank sales

KAMPALA, Uganda: The Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) have heard that Bank of Uganda (BoU) liquidated and sold off seven commercial banks without carrying an inventory of the assets and liabilities held by the banks.

The revelations came to the fore on Monday as BoU officials led by the Governor Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile appeared before the committee to defend their actions.

Mutebile told the committee that at the time of closure of Teefe, the laws in place were the 1969 Banking Act and the nature of the documents required at that time did not include an inventory. “So we do not have an inventory. We have provided information relating to the financial institution of Teefe; the assets and liabilities,” he said. The Auditor General, John Muwanga, in a shocking dossier to the August house, said BoU didn’t have all the required documentation related to all closed banks-specifically the inventory report, loan schedules, customer deposit schedules, statement of affairs and any reports supporting assets and liabilities relating to customer information.

Muwanga released the special audit report of BoU on defunct banks on August 27, 2018. The Committee Chairman Abdu Katuntu asked the BoU team to provide all documents needed regarding all the closed banks.

BoU explained to the AG at the time of releasing the report, that they would search in the archives. When they first appeared before the committee, the officials asked for two days to submit the documents, but despite being given four days, they still failed to release the documents only to confess on Monday that they had no reason why they closed Teefe.

Dr. Tumubweine Twinemanzi, Executive Director Supervision, BoU, said they would continue to search in the archives to get the information.

The members’ stance on having all documents forced Katuntu for the second time to kick out the Governor and his team. The officials are being quizzed regarding what many have described as “illegal’ closure of an irregular sale of seven commercial banks.

The banks included; Teefe Trust Bank (1993), Green Land Bank (1999), Gold Trust Bank (2014), Crane Bank (2017), National Bank of Commerce (2012), International Credit Bank Limited (1998), and The Cooperative Bank (1999)

Katuntu ordered the Executive Director for Supervision Dr. Tumubweine Twinomanzi to present the required documents by 1 PM on Wednesday and ordered that the BoU team appears again on Thursday at 10 AM without fail.

Katuntu also has asked the BoU staff to appear together with their agents who were involved in the transactions to answer specific queries.

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Government (IGG) has uncovered more cash belonging to Edith Kasekende, wife of Bank of Uganda (BoU) Deputy Governor Dr. Louis Kasekende. The money is being held on her account in Standard Chartered Bank.

On November 2, 2018, Edith Kasekende had a closing balance of about Shs1.3billion on her account in Standard Chartered Bank. The opening balance on that day was about Shs375.5 billion. Investigators are interested in finding out the sources of that money.

Edith’s husband, who happens to be the Deputy Governor BoU and host of other top officials at BoU are under investigation for their wealth. Edith runs an Easy Go account at Stanchart Bank number 0100111660500, which is used to transact hundreds of millions of shillings.