Bank of Uganda fails to account for shs23b as Auditor General starts probe

By our reporter

Last Thursday, Forensic experts from the Auditor General’s office went to Bank of Uganda headquarters where they demanded all documents relating to the controversial sale of Crane Bank and other closed commercial banks.

This came at the backdrop after Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga asked the Auditor General John Muwanga to disregard the Attorney General’s contrary advice of sub-judice rule and proceed to audit BoU.

The team which was led by James Bantu, the Director of Forensics was given “strict instructions” to look into the status of various banks at closure, cost of liquidation, assets and liabilities of the closed banks, non-performing assets, non-recoverable assets of the banks in question and the entire disposal chain.

In the process of auditing, the experts revealed that the Central Bank failed to account for shs23 billion which was accrued from the sale of Global Trust Bank (GTB) in 2014.

The Shs23 billion is in form of bank assets, which included deferred tax, intangible assets, cash balances, amounts due from other banking institutions other assets, amounts due from group companies, property and equipment, intangible assets, and deferred tax.

According to PML, an online new site, the Auditor General also indicates that the GTB’s 25 land titles were not transferred to dfcu Bank when the latter acquired the bank after it was declared insolvent.

“BoU did not transfer these titles to the purchaser (dfcu) contrary to the agreement. Management should place caveats on all the lost titles to protect the property and ensure that the titles are recovered and handed over to dfcu,” the audit report reads in part.

The report indicates that by December 2017, BoU had also not settled claims of former GTB shareholders worth Shs1.2b.

“Failure to settle verified claims delays the winding up process, hence BoU incurring liquidation and management costs, thereby reducing residual benefits due to the shareholders,” the audit report warns.

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