Bitter and shocking revelations are still striking and ashaming the Image of the Central Bank of Uganda (BoU).
Latest from credible inside sources revealed to us that Bou sold Crane Bank (CBL) and others like Global Trust Bank (GTB) without holding a board meeting and therefore, there were no minutes upon which the transactions were based.
During the parliamentary probe into the closure of commercial banks by Bank of Uganda, it was revealed that most banks were sold with no support documents. In fact for the case of Crane Bank, the then Executive Director in charge of supervision, Justine Bagyenda admitted having sold the bank on phone.
By the time Crane Bank was sold, Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile who heads the board as Chairman was viced by his then deputy Dr Louis Kasekende whose contract expired on January 14, 2019.
However, some of the members who made up the board at the time when the banks were being sold left at the end of their term and sources at the Uganda currency regulator (BoU), reveal that there is a plan to have those members back so that the issue of not having minutes is resolved. Thus there is likely to be some kind of forging the meeting and its minutes subsequently.
A source still revealed that a South African law firm ‘Bowmans’ working with Lawyers; David Mpanga and Timothy Masembe with the assistance from Margaret Kasule who position as head of legal at Bank of Uganda are trying to Alter Documents.
According to sources, the same BoU Kasule is already forging minutes to save Juma Kisaame the former Chief Executive Officer of dfcu, who confirmed to Legislators on the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) that the invite for DFCU to come and buy Crane bank was done on phone.
In a space of one year, BoU has lost countless legal suits, among them against tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia, with BoU being faulted for fielding a weak legal team.
The central bank’s legal department has also been faulted for always hiring services of external lawyers even when some of them are not by law allowed to represent the bank.
For example, the High Court in April 2019 declared Sebalu & Lule Advocates unfit to represent the Central Bank in any commercial disputes against Mr Ruparelia. In 2017, the Commercial Court also disqualified city lawyers Kanyererezi Masembe and David Mpanga from the UGX. 397b Sudhir Ruparelia’s case against Bank of Uganda (BoU), also citing conflict of interest.
In his ruling delivered on December 21, 2017, Justice Wangutusi stated that Mr. Mpanga of A.F. Mpanga Advocates and Timothy Masembe of MMAKS Advocates acted in violation of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) regulations.
