Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) has concluded a preparatory meeting today and resolved to summon Bank of Uganda (BoU) top officials for inquiries next week as regards the closure and sale of seven commercial banks, including Crane Bank Limited (CBL) which was controversially sold to Dfcu in January 2017.
Cosase Chairman Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri County ) said at parliament that the investigation will be based on findings of the Auditor General John Muwanga. “We will begin with the BoU board. The governor (Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile) is the Board Chairman and the Deputy Governor (Dr. Louis Kasekende) is the Deputy Board Chairman,” Mr. Katuntu said.
The Committee will quiz the BoU officials using the forensic report by the Auditor General John Muwanga which revealed the rot ranging from unaccounted for money, missing land titles, disputed payments to external lawyers and customer loans that were inherited from closed banks and sold at an undervalued rate without justification.
The report now in parliament raises key issues regarding the closure of Teefe Bank (1993), International Credit Bank Ltd (1998), Greenland Bank (1999), The Co-operative Bank (1999), National Bank of Commerce (2012), Global Trust Bank (2014) and the sale of Crane Bank Ltd (CBL).
The report says assets worth Shs23 billion formerly owned by Global Trust Bank (GTB) Uganda were not transferred to Dfcu in the purchase and assumption agreements when the bank was closed in July 2014. Some of the assets were: cash balances (Shs6.6 billion), amounts due from other banking institutions (Shs2.3b), other assets (Shs5.1 billion),amounts due from group companies (Shs9 million), property and equipment (Shs5.6 billion),intangible assets(Shs758 million) and deferred tax (Shs2.4 billion).
Auditors in the report say they could not trace Shs9 billion which was taken from other banks as the inventory report highlighted then. The money was not reflected on the recovery account. The Committee chairperson, Abdu Katuntu yesterday said that Cosase would a preparatory meeting today.
The committee is expected to summon a number of other individuals such as; Justine Bagyenda, the former director of supervision at BoU and the Dfcu managing director, Mr. Juma Kisaame, as well as the former owners of the seven defunct banks.