MPs summon Mutebile over alleged fraud in the closure of Cooperative Bank
Members of Parliament sitting on the Committee on Commissions Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) yesterday turned away officials from the Central Bank following the absence of the Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile.
The lawmakers were irked to learn that Mr Mutebile had instead delegated the Executive Director in charge of supervision Dr Tumubweine Twinemanzi who failed to explain to the committee why the governor had not showed up.
“The governor has not been able to attend and I am not privy to the detail on why he is unable to attend. He asked me to come and represent him,” Dr Twinemanzi said, prompting the meeting to end prematurely.
MPs demanded the presence of Mr Mutebile for the meeting to proceed.
They ordered the team to re-appear with the Governor today without fail, adding that the governor did not appear in the subsequent meetings as they reviewed the Auditor General’s report yet he is the institution’s accounting officer.
The MPs on COSASE had summoned BoU officials to explain irregularities in the closure of Cooperative Bank.
“There are many issues raised in the committee which cannot be answered by BoU staff. The Governor must appear in person to explain why he closed Cooperative Bank and whether the procedures were followed,” said Mr Mubarak Munyagwa (Kawempe Division South MP), the committee chairperson.
Two weeks ago, the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga instructed the committee to re-investigate the closure of Cooperative Bank following a petition from one Tushabe Chris Karobwa who accused BoU officials of mismanaging issues of the Cooperative Bank in receivership.
In his petition, Mr Karobwa claimed he was a victim of BoU fraud and his “risky contribution in fighting and exposing corruption in BOU” should not simply be washed down the drain to benefit the wrong doers.
He said the former committee chairperson Mr Abdul Katuntu partly handled his case and wants the new Cosase to compete the probe into Cooperative Bank.
Subsequently, the Speaker in a letter dated July 26, 2019, asked Mr Munyagwa to consider Mr Karobwa’s appeal.
Background
The Auditor General in a special audit report last year, pointed out weaknesses in the management of Central Bank during the closure of at least seven commercial banks.
These include Teefe Bank (1993), International Credit Bank Ltd (1998), Greenland Bank (1999), The Co-operative Bank (1999), National Bank of Commerce (2012), Global Trust Bank (2014) and Crane Bank Ltd (CBL) in 2016.
