By Spy Reporter
Kampala: The government of Uganda is locking horns with its own security arms, the Uganda Police Force (UPF), over investigations into the Bank of Uganda multibillion scandal, which involves bank officials printing excess money.
The multibillion scandal broke on Saturday after State House Anti-Corruption Unit led by Lt. Col. Edith Nakalema stormed Bank of Uganda and arrested several officials, on top of allegedly seizing money to the tune of Shs90, which had been printed in excess of what BoU had procured. On Monday, police spokesperson Fred Enanga told the public that the Uganda Police had taken over investigations into the matter and that it was to be handled by the Criminal Investigations Directorate. However, on Tuesday morning government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo shocked the nation while speaking at the Uganda Media Centre, when he refuted Enanga’s statement and said that police should correct its statement on claims that Bank of Uganda officials were searched and possibly implicating documents found at their homes. Opondo said that Police should “clarify on their statement about Bank of Uganda in accordance to existing investigations.” He added that “We believe the Police made a mistake while addressing the media.” Enanga had earlier said that the “searches were done in the homes of the officials and a number of documents were recovered. “With time, we shall get how much was involved, how much (money) has been recovered, what was genuine (currency), [and] what was unofficial, but genuine money.” Noted Opondo.
However, what remains unclear is why police, which took over investigations into how 5 extra pallets of money found their way onto a plane chartered by BoU to exclusively transport banknotes from France, released wrong information. State House’s Anti-corruption desk led by Lt Col Edith Nakalema is said to be reviewing statements recorded by various officials from URA, ENHAS and BoU. “We’ve established that BoU followed the due process in printing money. We looked at the money printing schedules and their documents and how the money came to Entebbe and left. Our main interest now is in the extra pallets,” said a military official briefed about the investigation. In a statement issued last week, BoU Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile said he requested the Anti-Corruption Unit of State House to investigate the matter, hence all BoU were cooperating with security officers conducting investigations. However, many members of the general public have since started wondering who is fooling who in this high profile multibillion scandal.
