Bigirimana blames OPM scam on Treasury, Bank of Uganda

Mr Bigirimana (R) before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee last week.

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By inviting the Auditor General to carry out a forensic audit, Mr Bigirimana said he “stepped in a plate” his former principal accountant Geoffrey Kazinda and other officials in the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Uganda were using to “eat” donor funds meant for the people of northern Uganda and Karamoja sub-region.

The Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s office, Mr Pius Bigirimana, has told the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee investigating the corruption in his docket that he caused a “Tsunami” in Public Service and described Ministry of Finance as the “epicentre” of the fraud.

By inviting the Auditor General to carry out a forensic audit, Mr Bigirimana said he “stepped in a plate” his former principal accountant Geoffrey Kazinda and other officials in the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Uganda were using to “eat” donor funds meant for the people of northern Uganda and Karamoja sub-region.

In a written statement to PAC, Mr Bigirimana defended First Lady Janet Museveni on OPM scam and faulted MPs for their failure to appreciate what he called unprompted initiative to uncover high level e-fraud and outright theft orchestrated by a web of money hungry public servants in OPM, other ministries and departments. He said Mr Kazinda took money using the First Lady’s name.

“Nothing was being said about the epicentre where the fraud was initiated and executed, instead it’s Bigirimana who is being punched. If this is the price I have to pay for cleaning Public Service, so be it, but my actions have exposed the mess in government departments and the epicentre of the fraud which is the Treasury,” Mr Bigirimana said.

Mr Bigirimana, who was ordered to re-appear before PAC on Monday over the loss of more than Shs50 billion in aid, said the accusation that he did not execute his duty was caused by lack of “understanding of the nature of the cover-up and conspiracy engaged by a network of officers determined to stay hidden while executing a most despicable pilfering of public funds.”

Mr Bigirimana said in blowing the whistle on the scam in his docket, he caused “a fundamental change” in the fight against corruption, adding that dealing with OPM scandal without tackling the “tap root of corruption” in Ministry of Finance would be treating symptoms.

“The epicentre of this hemorrhage is in the Ministry of Finance, and in particular, the Treasury,” Mr Bigirimana said. “What people see in OPM is just the root fibres; the tap root is in the Ministry of Finance”.

Secretary to the Treasury Chris Kassami and his deputy Keith Muhakanizi have already appeared before PAC and accused the PS of making abnormal withdrawals. Mr Muhakanizi has since sent letters to PAC distancing Ministry of Finance and the Treasury from the “abnormal” cash transactions made by Mr Bigirimana.

But Mr Bigirimana said even after Bank of Uganda (BoU) officials doubted the authenticity of the signatures used to withdraw PRDP funds in the scam; instead of calling him as the accounting officer, they called Mr Kazinda. The Auditor General found that nearly Shs2b in PRDP money was withdrawn from BoU using forged signatures attributed to Mr Bigirimana.

In nine instances, cash amounting to Shs787.1m was drawn on Fridays, putting into question whether activities were to be undertaken on weekends. Mr Bigirimana faults BoU.

Mr Bigirimana said BoU facilitated the fraud when they cleared 61 non-cash payments totaling Shs10.9 billion without verifying with him as the principal signatory yet BoU is by law required to first carry out verification of signatures with the responsible mandated signatory so as to forestall fraud.

“BoU contravened banking regulations when they created non-cash payments devoid of verification of signatures,” Mr Bigirimana said.

When the Deputy Governor Louis Kasekende appeared before PAC recently, he said they were investigating all the officials who were involved in the scam.