Sh15b missing on custodian board account

Oct 24, 2020

MPs were curious as to why two of these collection accounts were held in Stanbic Bank despite the board’s collection accounts being previously in the Bank of Uganda.

PARLIAMENT|COSASE|FRAUD 

KAMPALA - MPs on the select sub-committee on commissions, statutory authorities and state enterprises (COSASE) are carrying out investigations into the sh15b proceeds from the sale of properties, which has reportedly gone missing from the accounts of the Departed Asians Property Custodian Board.

The hand over report tabled before the COSASE subcommittee by the divestiture committee of the custodian board, which was relieved of its duties on January 20, 2006, indicates that sh15b was on the collection account in Bank of Uganda as proceeds from the sale of 1,524 properties belonging to departed Asians.

The report further shows correspondences of minutes from a ministers' meeting over the sale of the departed Asian properties in 1994, indicating that sh7b had been collected by 1997 as the process of disposing of was continuing.

By 2006, the amount had reportedly accumulated to sh15b, but MPs were shocked that the money meant for the compensation of Asian property owners was missing from the bank accounts run by the custodian board, yet the properties were already taken.

Ibrahim Kasozi, the vice chairperson of COSASE, demanded accountability for the missing sh15b, arguing that "government sold all these properties but there is no accountability for this money".

Kampala Central MP Muhammed Nsereko said the custodian board's accounts do not show any compensation that could have depleted the accounts.

"Where did you put the money that you realised from the sale of the properties?" he asked.

This was during a committee session where MPs are investigating, among other issues, fraudulent acquisition of properties facilitated by government officials as disclosed by the Auditor General in his report.

According to the Auditor General's report as of December 31, 2001, queries in regards to the Departed Asians Property Custodian Board, the audit report clearly indicated that there was political influence and undervaluing of properties as they were being disposed of, which led to mismanagement of the entire process, hence causing financial loss to the Government.

This followed numerous petitions from stakeholders to Parliament, which in turn instituted a select committee to dig deep into the matter.

Thursday (October 22, 2020), while appearing before COSASE, finance minister Matia Kasaija, the ministry permanent secretary Keith Muhakanizi and former undersecretary Betty Kasimbazi were grilled by legislators over the missing sh15b.

Key witnesses in Thursday's hearing were Kasimbazi, who took over as an accounting officer of the custodian board in 2007 and the current executive secretary, George William Bizibu.

MPs pinned Kasimbazi for allegedly being the mastermind of the fraud by creating two extra accounts in Stanbic Bank, where illegal transactions on money from the collection account to the operational account were made without the approval of the Accountant General.

Kasaija, who previously acted as the board's accounting officer in the late 1990s, told the legislators that the custodian board has had only one operations account and a collections account in the central bank.

Kasimbazi, however, disputed the sh15b figure, noting that she only inherited sh1.1b on four different accounts and, therefore, had no idea about the said money.

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