The State House Anti-Corruption Unit led by Lt. Col. Edith Nakalema has resumed fresh investigations on how Bank Of Uganda under the reign of a former Deputy Governor Dr. Louis Kasekende allegedly swindled over Shs478 billion and among others, how old currency supposed to be destroyed was smuggled out by BoU officials who again returned into circulation.
The investigations follows the Auditor General’s special audit report of the said amount which discovered that only Shs200 could be explained how it was used while the balance of over Shs279 was unaccounted for.
The Anti-Corruption team is further investigating how BoU allegedly, fraudulently and wastefully paid over an alerming Shs20 billion as legal fees to David Mpanga of A.F.Mpanga and Timothy Kanyerezi Masembe of MMAKS Advocates.
“We want to establish whether they deserve that money or it is was a conduit whose other aims aren’t known to the public. Nevertheless, our team will find out” said a security source.
The investigators are also accessing the wealth of the top directors to establish whether their assets resonate with their declaration at the Inspectorate of Government.
In an interview with an insider, confirmed that BoU recently released Shs4 billion as part of the balance on Shs20 billion to the lawyers. However, what is intriguing investigators is why paying that entire amount to the lawyers and yet some of the cases are jointly handled by BoU own lawyers.
The source confirmed to this website that five other directors at the bank whose contracts expired or are about to expire will not have them renewed. A source at the bank said this was part of the recommendations from earlier investigation to the appointing authority to retire senior staff at BoU in public interest due to the rampant corruption, overstay but above all, the bad publicity such officials have attracted for the Central Bank.
The source further revealed that in less than a month, the governor will also make a shakeup of his troops to replace those that have retired but also make changes as recommended in the earlier report. According to the BoU HR script, the governor is entitled to making changes up the director level while the positions of governor and his deputy are reserved for the president. The changes are also expected at the board level.
Among the directors affected are those of legal services, human resources and Director Financial Markets Development Coordination (FMDC).
Last year as the IGG intensified her investigations of toe top gurus at the central banks, a leaked document indicated that Dr. Kasekende had transferred 12 plots of land into the names of his driver Moses Musitwa in an effort to dodge the scrutiny of the Inspector General of Government (IGG).
The IGG among other mechanisms used the Leadership Code Act 2002, to catch senior public officials who may have involved in corruption to grow wealth. The officials are required by the Act to declare their properties for purposes of accountability and transparency.
This is a second time in less than a year that State House Anti-Corruption Unit is cracking a whip at the central bank.