High Court orders audit into struggling UTL
The High Court in Kampala has ordered an audit into the struggling Uganda Telecom (UTL) within 30 days.
The order was issued by Justice Musa Ssekaana upon application by Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) on Friday afternoon.
UBC was one of its creditors of UTL.
“It’s hereby ordered that an audit be carried out on Uganda Telecom Ltd- in administration by the Auditor General within a period of 30 days from the date of this order. The audit report should be presented/ given to all the creditors of the company,” Justice Ssekaana ordered.
The court’s order ends a two months standoff between the secretary to the treasury, Mr Keith Muhakanizi and the state minister for finance, Ms Evelyn Anite on whether UTL should be audited or not.
Mr Muhakanizi had insisted that there won’t be an audit on UTL until court decides otherwise.
“The audit will not go on until the court pronounces itself on the matter. We shall continue to implement the framework of the laws of Uganda, so there is no problem,” Mr Muhakanizi said in a telephone interview with this newspaper earlier this week.
But minister Anite who was on annual leave and away in the US, insisted this week that an audit has to be carried out.
“The audit is going to take place because the Attorney General’s opinion was sent to us and to the President, but the President has already responded to it. Mr Muhakanizi knows that it is after the Attorney General gave his opinion that the President gave his directive,” she said.
Earlier on August 2, Mr Muhakanizi had issued out a letter directing the UTL administrator, Mr Twebaze Bemanya, not to avail the books of accounts to the ministry’s internal auditor general, Mr Fixon Okony.
Minister Anite had also in her letter of July 24, given an ultimatum of one month to Mr Okony to audit UTL as ordered by the President.
UTL was put under administration in May 2017 after Libyans, who owned 69% of the shares, left at a time when the company had a Shs700b debt.
In January, government kicked out Nigerian firm Teleology Holdings Ltd after it failed to pay Shs268 billion within three months of being awarded the UTL deal as had been agreed by both parties.
The core purpose of reviewing a company is to among others; identify inefficiencies, reduce costs and achieve organisational objectives.
Similarly, auditing firms may investigate potential theft or fraud and ensure compliance with applicable regulations and policies.
