Bank of Uganda currency saga deepens

Investigations into the Bank of Uganda (BOU) currency saga have intensified as security questions more people involved in the now controversial transfer of sh350b from France, New Vision has learnt.

New Vision has also learnt that the investigations by the Police Criminal Investigations Directorate and State House Anti-Corruption Unit have caused panic in several other institutions connected to the saga.

Those lined up for questioning next week include officials from Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), BOU, Civil Aviation Authority, aviation security, private entities and businessmen whose commodities were found on the plane, clearing agents and the owners of the chartered plane.

On Wednesday, the Police raided Bank of Uganda and arrested six people to help with the investigations.

The arrested BOU officials include Dr Banzinzi, Carol Nankabirwa, Milton Baruku and Julie Piloyo.

The operation was carried out following President Yoweri Museveni's directive to the Inspector General of Police, Okoth Ochola, and State House Anti-Corruption Unit boss Lt Col Edith Nakalema after BOU officials raised an alarm over the issue.

There have been other reports that excess cash amounting to sh90b could have been printed and that it had disappeared at Entebbe airport. But BOU and the Government have dismissed the reports.

The sh350b was packed in 20 pallets, but there were additional five pallets, which authorities now say belonged to 13 private entities including the United Nations and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

New Vision reported that the 13 clients included Mandela Millers (Light wall panels), USAID (entomology equipment), Jamani Investments Ltd. (Sundry and X-ray equipment), businessman Charles Mbire (deboric adhesive) and the UN, which had the largest consignment of lead acid batteries and converters. USAID's consignment also contained human blood reagents.

Others were Amptech (U) Ltd with pumps and accessories and Ministry of Health with donated mobile supplies.

The money was flown to Entebbe from Liege Airport in France on April 27 aboard an Ms Kuene++ Nagel cargo plane. The investigators want to find out how the private cargo was loaded onto the plane which was chartered by BOU to ferry only cash.

Bank of Uganda Governor Emannuel Tumusiime Mutebile on Friday said his staff had reported an anomaly in the inventory of the expected consignment on April 27, prompting him to request the Anti-Corruption Unit of State House to investigate the matter.

"Bank of Uganda reassures the public that we are committed to maintaining the integrity of its operations and are working with the relevant authorities to bring this matter to its logical conclusion," Mutebile said.

URA, which cleared the private consignment, has also explained that all due process of verification of the goods for tax purposes was followed.

But in a statement issued on Friday, URA acting spokesperson Jamil Senyonjo warned Bank of Uganda, "not to drag us into logistical contractual failures or mistakes of their service provider."

URA confirmed that the chartered plane by BOU contained other cargo which belonged to various individual companies but that the BOU money was cleared and delivered to the vaults intact and the excess pallets were taken to URA warehouses.

"As per normal customs clearance procedure, this cargo was offloaded into the licensed bonds at the airport and subsequently the owners made customs declarations, paid applicable taxes and Customs physically verified each consignment to ascertain accuracy and consistency with the declaration and we released the goods to the owners," Senyonjo said.

Senyonjo noted that each consignment had its individual airway bill and that Customs was not party to the airline charter arrangements between BOU, the airline and the other owners of the goods.

"It is not the responsibility of Customs to concern itself with logistical arrangements of importers or exporters. Our duty is to ensure that imported cargo through the airport is received and tallied with the cargo manifest, verified and is cleared in line with the Customs laws as established under the East African Customs Management Act (EACCMA). In this particular consignment like all others, our Customs staff followed the procedures to the dot and we can account for the cargo cleared fully. URA has provided the details of the information required by the investigators and we are available to offer any clarification if required," Senyonjo said.

Mbire owns up

Charles Mbire, a prominent businessman and MTN board chairman, admitted owning the adhesive glue that was among the five extra pallets that are now subject of inquiry.

He, however, said he did not know how it got onto the plane. Mbire also noted that his goods were too insignificant given the quantity.

"It was only 20 litres of adhesive glue for my boat. It was owned by me. I bought it from London and gave it to a shipping agent, Allied Cargo. How they shipped it here, I don't know. I only picked it from the airport and it was cleared in the normal way," Mbire explained.

Efforts to get a comment from the other private parties proved futile.

Why security is holding BOU officials

BOU staff sent to France to witness the packing, loading and freight of the cargo to the plane, failed to raise a red alert when they found other cargo in the chartered plane at the loading point.

A detective investigating the matter told New Vision that they are held liable for failing to raise the issue early yet the plane had been wholly chartered by BOU for currency transfer.

"They noticed that there was cargo on the plane other than their cargo. They asked about this and were told that the cargo was for other parties," a source told New Vision.

Government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo said the two staff who had been sent included the heads of currency centres of Mbale and Kabale but that they only reported about the extra pallets to the Bank of Uganda superiors four days later on May 2 after URA raised its query.

Several questions are being raised why international organisations who have tax-free status used the plane to bring in their goods.

Sources suspect there could have been an attempt to smuggle in some goods using diplomatic status.