Business
Finance denies instructing BOU to pay fraudulent companies
BoU Deputy governor Dr. Ating-Ego (extreme right) sat next to Accountant General Seemakula as they faced COSSASE committee of Parliament recently to answer questions about the 60bn shilling alleged heist by hackers
The Ministry of Finance has denied directing the Bank of Uganda to pay 60 billion shillings to Roadway Company in Japan and MJS International in the UK, which turned out to be erroneous recipients.
Appearing before the parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), Accountant General Lawrence Ssemakula clarified that payment instructions were meant for the International Development Association (IDA) and the African Development Fund.
However, Bank of Uganda, led by Deputy Governor Michael Atingi-Ego, claims the ministry instructed payments to the two companies.
Ssemakula provided documentary evidence contradicting this.
The committee chairperson and Busiro MP, Medard Lubega Ssegona, questioned what might have occurred following the instructions issued by the Ministry of Finance.
“So the question is: what happened? It all boils down to one thing—what happened? Finance has said, in summary, in one sentence: we never instructed them to pay those two,” Ssegona stated.
However, the members insisted that the Accountant General confirm the chairperson’s statement.
“And I can repeat emphatically that we did not issue any instructions to pay those two companies. I repeat even now, if you check our database and the system we have, those two companies are not listed as government suppliers,” Ssemakula clarified.
From the latest revelations, where the Bank of Uganda claims, they were instructed to pay these suspicious companies, while the Ministry of Finance asserts, they sent a different request, committee members questioned how the payment instructions changed from paying IDA and ADF to paying Roadway Company in Japan and MJS International in the UK.
Ssegona noted that one of the institutions is lying, and the committee is determined to uncover the truth.
Kyadondo East MP Muwada Nkunyinji expressed concerns over the conflicting accounts between the institutions and the slow response to recovering the funds. He says the committee will keep on pressing for clarity and recovery of the taxpayer’s money.
For him, this points to a deliberate collaboration between the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Uganda. He added that both institutions are now panicking, trying to justify their actions.
“Deep down, it’s clear all of them were involved. This explains why no one has been suspended from either institution. Otherwise, with billions of shillings involved at such a magnitude, you would expect the Bank of Uganda to identify those responsible and suspend them. Equally, the Ministry of Finance should have taken action. These are huge sums of money, not peanuts,” Muwada remarked.
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