The much-awaited probing of Bank of Uganda (BoU) officials by Parliamentary Committee of Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) into queries raised in the special audit report by the Auditor General about the controversial closure of seven banks by the Central Bank has failed to take off.
Last week, COSASE Chairperson, Abdu Katuntu (in featured photo) said the Committee was set to start interfacing with BoU officials and all board members of the seven closed banks beginning today.
However, our reporter at Parliament says the meeting didn’t take place because Katuntu wasn’t available. Reports also indicate that BoU officials didn’t turn-up. It’s not clear whether Katuntu’s deputy couldn’t proceed with the meeting.
“We have set up a work plan, we are beginning on Wednesday next week and we shall be able to interact with officers of Bank of Uganda and Board of Bank of Uganda to explain to us the issues that have been raised by the Auditor General,” Katuntu told journalists last week.
He added: “We have instructed clerk to look for the Boards of the defunct banks. The Boards are now defunct, so we are going to look for those who were last in those offices in those banks.”
It should be noted that on 28th November 2017, COSASE requested the Auditor General to undertake a special audit on the closure of all Commercial banks by the Central Bank.
After seven months, the special audit report came out, revealing how BoU controversially closed some of the banks.
For example, the special audit report revealed that during the statutory management period, the Central Bank splashed Shs478.8bn into Crane Bank as liquidity support between 21st October 2016 and 9th January 2017.
