Leaked bank details: DTB apologises to Bagyenda
KAMPALA. Diamond Trust Bank has issued unreserved apologies to Ms Justine Bagyenda, the outgoing executive director of supervision at the Bank of Uganda.
The apology follows leaked bank account details of Bagyenda, laying bare how she allegedly over the years made several fixed deposits at the bank, making billions of profits in the process.
However, DTB now says the details and the figures in the bank accounts were grossly distorted. The bank also said one of their own staff corruptly leaked the details to the outsiders.
“Management carried out an extensive investigation and established that one of the staff was compromised to access Ms Bagyenda’s account in the bank’s system. Confidential details relating to the accounts were leaked to outsiders and apparently used to create grossly distorted allegations about Ms Bagyenda’s alleged account balances,” a statement issued by the bank on Friday reads.
“The bank wishes to unreservedly apologise to Mrs. Justice Bagyenda for the inconvenience and embarrassment that this regrettable incident has caused to her,” reads in part the statement released by the bank.
The leaked documents allegedly originating from DTB and published by what the bank called “anonymous online publications” showed how Ms Bagyenda had stashed away tens of billions of shillings in the last six years and made fortune out of it. Local online news sources reported last week that by the time of leaking the details, Ms Bagyenda’s account had a balance of Shs19,302,441,183.
Bagyenda, who until the recent reshuffle had served as the executive director of bank supervision, was slated to retire in June this year, however, the reshuffle rendered her idle and was asked to prepare and hand over office.
The press release by the bank states: “On March 1, 2018, it came to management’s attention that anonymous online publications were publishing articles about Mrs. Justine Bagyenda’s accounts/ deposit details with various banks, including DTB Uganda Limited,” the statement adds.
The bank says it ‘abhors and disassociates’ itself from the unprofessional and illegal actions of the staff and those who may have corruptly procured the account details’ to carry out misdeed.
Without naming the said staff, the bank says it’s initiating criminal investigations against the culprit and refer the matter to the police.
“The bank has initiated necessary disciplinary proceedings against them and will make a formal criminal complaint.”
It is not clear whether the revelations will lead to fresh investigations against Ms Bagyenda by Bank of Uganda.
Recently, the bank has come under criticism for over spending including on a case between the bank and the former Crane Bank where four billion shillings has so far been paid to lawyers.
