Bank of Uganda (BoU) has denied reports that it is hiding Shs10bn in a secret account in Germany.
In a press statement issued Monday morning, BoU Communications Director, Christine Alupo, describes the reports as misrepresentation “of the information that was provided in the testimony by the Bank of Uganda (BoU) before the Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) on August 2, 2017″.
On that day BoU officials appeared before COSASE to respond to issues that had been raised by the Auditor General arising from routine end of financial year audits covering three financial years starting from 2013/14 forward. Alupo explains that one of the issues that had been raised pertained to a dormant trust account held in Deutsche Bank in Germany that had not been reflected in the books of the Bank of Uganda.
According to Alupo, BoU in carrying out its role as Banker to Government, opens and executes authorized transactions on Government accounts both domestically and internationally. Alupo says the account in reference was opened on December 17, 2003 on the instructions of Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) in the Deutsche Bank in Germany.
She says the purpose of the account “was to receive proceeds from the sale of shares in DFCU Bank by a German company called Deutsche Entwicklungs Gesellschaft (DEG), which until then had been a shareholder in DFCU Bank”, adding that “the funds had been designated as a grant to the Uganda Government”.
URN
