Parliament’s move to probe Bank of Uganda (BoU) over the controversial collapse of Crane Bank has been temporarily stopped pending Court’s ruling. However, MPs have been urged to keenly follow court proceedings.
BoU sued Sudhir Ruparelia and his other company; Meera Investments for causing financial loss to Crane Bank, eventually leading to its collapse.
The ruling not to probe BoU (for now) was delivered by Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah on Tuesday afternoon.
It should be noted that last week, Budadiri West MP, Nandala Mafabi tabled a motion asking Parliament to form a select Committee to investigate BoU over Crane Bank collapse.
Mafabi wondered how Crane Bank that had been named as one of the best performing banks in Uganda for a long time could collapse in just fourteen days.
“The systematic institutional failure by Bank of Uganda to fulfill its statutory mandate is an indicator of incompetence and potential complicity on the part on the part of BoU,” Mafabi said.
Oulanyah, who was chairing the House last week deferred the debate to this week in order to consult on the matter of sub judice.
In his ruling, Oulanyah informed the House that after tabling of the motion, Governor Bank of Uganda, Emmanuel Mutebile wrote to Parliament.
In his letter, Mutebile told Oulanyah that the matters that Parliament intends to investigate are already in courts of law.
The law firm representing Central Bank in High Court Masembe, Makubuya, Adriko Makubuya and Sekatawa (MMAKS) Advocates also wrote a letter to the Deputy Speaker informing him that the matter of conflict of interest is also being investigated by High Court.
“I think the matter remains within determination of the court and if Parliament is to determine the same thing they will be doing the same thing which is prohibited by our Rules,” Oulanyah said.
Oulanyah also halted investigations into the matter by Parliament Committee of Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) that had issued summons for Mutebile to appear over Crane Bank matters to halt the proceedings.
“I find merit in the concern of sub judice raised and rule that the proposed Parliament investigations in the affairs, circumstances and culpability of Bank of Uganda and all individuals involved in the management of Crane Bank could be sub judice COSASE shouldn’t proceed on this matter,” he said.
He added: “…Keep monitoring the progress of those matters before court and where necessary we can review the matter. So this motion will remain on the order of business of the house as soon as we see what the court has determined … and we see there are still gaps to be investigated by Parliament, we shall then proceed.”
