Legislators\nhave called for the naming and punishing of \nBank of Uganda (BOU) officials responsible for the erroneous closure of\nthe seven commercial banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nMPs said that the report presented by the Committee on Commissions, Statutory\nAuthorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) on closure of the banks should have\nnamed the officials and caused their arrests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nMinister of State for Health, Hon. Sarah Opendi said that the recommendations\nof the report do not match the findings of what transpired during the probe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\ncommittee was not availed an inventory and other key documents of the sale and\ntake-over of these banks, an indication that there were mischievous dealings between\nBOU and the buyers of the banks,\u201d she said, adding that the committee\nrecommendation that the Bank should follow the proper practices was not good\nenough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nseven banks closed by BOU are: Greenland Bank, Teefe Trust Bank, International\nCredit Bank, Crane Bank, National Bank of Commerce, Gold Trust Bank and\nCooperative Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\npeople who did not follow the proper procedures and laws should be held\nresponsible; we cannot adopt such a report without naming the personalities\nresponsible,\u201d Opendi added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nminister criticised the sale of a loan portfolio of Greenland and Cooperative\nBanks totalling to shs135 billion including shs34 billion worth of secured\nloans to Nile River Acquisition at a discount of 93 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\ndid not see the committee mention the Directors of the Nile River Acquisition\nand they should also be brought to book,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hon.\nPentagon Kamusiime noted that the report should undergo further investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis\nreport should have been precise and clear to the end to identify who did what\nand where,\u201d he said, adding that, \u201cwe are going to lose a lot of money and\npeople will go scot-free without anything being done to them\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hon.\nSimon Oyet (FDC, Nwoya County) added that while the unnamed BOU officials\nclosed the banks under unclear circumstances, the proprietors including the\ncommon man like in the Cooperative Bank suffered losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\nowners suffered psychologically and financially and some died frustrated people\nlike the former owner of Greenland Bank; we need to offer redress to them by\npunishing these officials,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nChairperson of the Committee on COSASE, Hon. Abdu Katuntu said that committee\nhad a debate on whether they should name the officials but thought otherwise\nand did not intentionally hide these names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\nwere cautious of the case of Fox Odoi Vs the Attorney General which goes against\ngiving names of officials in wrong-doing especially if they have not been found\nguilty by the courts of law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Katuntu\nalso noted the lack of records of who participated in the decision-making\nprocesses and that it was not in their position to issue punishments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\ncould not name the people responsible because there were no minutes or records\nfor these meetings; additionally, this is a probe not a judgement from the\ncourt of law that convicts these people, we just report the facts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nSpeaker said that it was wrong for some MPs to hold specials press conferences\nto discredit the report before debating it and getting a response from the\nCommittee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parliament deferred the debate on the report to Wednesday, 26 February 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parliamentary News<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Legislators have called for the naming and punishing of Bank of Uganda (BOU) officials responsible for the erroneous closure of the seven commercial banks. The MPs said that the report presented by the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) on closure of the banks should have named the officials and caused their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":8386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-8385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n