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BoU probe: MPs demand for action against officials stalls
Despite orders from Parliament and the DPP, the BoU officials implicated in the case like former director of bank supervision, Ms Justine Bagyenda (left) and the director for Financial Markets Development Coordination in BoU, Mr Benedict Ssekabira are still at large.
Two years ago a report by the committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) implicated Bank of Uganda (BoU) officials in the arbitrary closure of seven commercial banks.
The banks were Crane Bank Limited, Cooperative Bank, Teefe Bank, Greenland Bank, Uganda Bank of Commence, International Credit Bank Ltd and Global Trust Bank.
In its report, which was presented to Parliament on March 21, 2019, the committee made a host of recommendations that include holding the implicated officials individually responsible for the mess although it did not name the officials, something that created a lot of queries.
As a result, the office of the Leader of Opposition tabled additional recommendations demanding that the officials, who fraudulently closed distressed banks, be named and investigated further.
“We are recommending that all officials found culpable for wrongdoing in the probe be named and forwarded to relevant institutions for further investigations and possible prosecutions,” Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze, said on behalf of the Leader of Opposition.
Parliament in turn asked police and other relevant authorities to take action against the officials.
However, no suspect has been prosecuted as a result of any investigations by the relevant government agencies.
Ms Munira Ali, the spokesperson of the Inspectorate of Government (IG), said the agency is not investigating any case in relation to the Parliament recommendations on closure of commercial banks.
“We have not carried out any investigations about that. We have not done anything because that would have been Parliament to forward to us but they did not,” Ms Munira said.
However, the spokesperson of police’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (CID), Mr Charles Twine, told Daily Monitor that they have been investigating some BoU officials, but declined to reveal the particulars of the officials under probe.
“What I can tell you is that we are still investigating. It does not matter telling you how many people we are investigating and how many have been dropped,” Mr Twine said.
The committee had also raised the issue of land titles sold to a non-existing firm: Ms Nile River Acquisition Company following the closure of the Cooperative Bank.
According to Mr Chris Tushabe, a former shareholder in the Cooperative Bank, he mortgaged his land titles in the bank to get a loan but when the Cooperative Bank was taken over by Bank of Uganda, he was forced pay back the loans, although he did not get back his land titles.
Mr Benedict Ssekabira, the director for Financial Markets Development Coordination in BoU, was the liquidator of Cooperative Bank and the committee recommended that he be investigated on how the land titles moved from the bank custody to a non-exiting company.
The current Cosase chairman, Mr Mubarak Munyagwa (Kawempe South), forwarded Ms Ssekabira’s case to CID headquarters for investigations.
Mr Munyagwa asked Inspector General of Police Okoth-Ochola to ensure that Mr Tushabe gets back his missing land titles.
“Among the recommendations made in the (Cosase) report, the committee recommended that the agency of M/S SIL Investment Ltd cannot legally exist upon dissolution of the Principal (M/S Nile River Acquisition Company Ltd). You were, therefore, required to immediately on adoption of the report, seize all the land titles in the possession of Mr Kakembo Katende of M/S Kirkland and Associates, and, M/S SIL Investments arising from their management of the loan portfolio sold to M/S Nile River Acquisition Company by Bank of Uganda,” Mr Munyagwa wrote to the police boss on March 12, 2020.
As a result of this letter, police commenced investigations and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ordered Mr Ssekabira’s arrest.
The DPP further ordered the arrest of Mr Katende and Ms Evelyn Nyangoma of SIL Investment Ltd.
However police have not acted on the DPP orders.
Mr Tushabe has battled BoU for many years without redeeming his properties. Last week he said he was disappointed with the way CID have neglected the case and allowed the suspects to go scot free in defiance of the DPP directive.
“The file of Mr Ssekabira has changed hands from one detective to another and I wonder why he and his accomplices in selling my land titles cannot be arrested. They are in Uganda but the police seem not to respect the Parliament recommendation,” Mr Tushabe said.
Mr Ssekabira and former director of bank supervision, Ms Justine Bagyenda are among top BoU officials that faced intensive interrogation by Cosase during the probe because of their key roles they played in closure and liquidation of the commercial banks.
Mr Twine last year confirmed that detectives were investigating Mr Ssekabira. However when contacted last week, Mr Twine did not offer any update.
Government reacts
Last year, government tabled through the Ministry of Finance, a memorandum on what actions it has taken in regard to the Parliament recommendations on the findings of the Cosase probe.
These actions in the memorandum have remained a secret because Parliament has not yet debated it.
Recently MPs have been questioning why the recommendations of the accountability committees of Parliament take long without government taking action on them.
