The probe on Bank of Uganda (BoU) following the Auditor General’s report on closure of 7 banks has Thursday kicked off.
BoU officials led by Governor Emmanuel Mutebile and his Deputy Louis Kasekende appeared before the parliamentary committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) to respond to queries by the Auditor General’s report on controversial closure of 7 Banks that include; 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) to dfcu (2016) at Shs200bn.
During the probe, BoU governor Mutebile asked for more time to present documentary evidence in regards to the closure of 7 banks under probe after MPs said that it was not possible to procedure with the queries because the Central Bank did not attach supporting documents to their responses.
Rubaga North MP Moses Kasibante raised a procedural matter saying that the BoU responses to the AG report lacks documentary attachments which makes it difficult to hold the officials accountable.
“Many of these people who own these banks want accountability so we need accountability. We are conscious of your (BoU) constitutional independence, but independence doesn’t mean non accountability. We know BoU is independent but accountability is a constitutional requirements. What we are looking is accountability not criminal prosecution,” Katuntu said.
Katikamu North MP Abraham Byandala also lamented that the few documents that BoU had provided did not contain what they wanted.
In response, Mutebile told the committee that they have all the supporting documents in regards to closure of the Banks, but requested for more time to present them for scrutiny.
“It is quite impossible to reply to these demands within a day. We need a couple of days [to submit the documents]. We seek for more time so that we submit on Monday afternoon,” Mutebile said.
In his ruling, Katuntu adjourned the meeting up to Friday, but allowed BoU to submit all the necessary documents by close of business on Monday.
