By Spy Uganda Investigations Desk
The family of jailed former Ericsson manager Hamba Mary Coreen who was violently abducted by agents of I&M bank in a tinted drone car on June 17, 2024, has petitioned the Prime Minister of Uganda, Rt.Hon.Robinah Nabbanja, showing dissatisfaction with the brutality meted out against their family member and netting her in Luzira for three months now without trial.
To bring you up to speed, Coreen was abducted by a tinted drone car by four masked masculine men in Entebbe, at Entebbe Education Centre school gate as she dropped her kid to school at around 5:45 am.
This shocking incident happened on 17, June 2024 on claims that she had defaulted Ugx125m from I&M Bank, a bank she was hearing for the first time.
“I have never even heard about I&M Bank in my life, I have never taken a loan from them, but they simply roughed me up without allowing me to explain myself, forcefully pushed me into a waiting tinted drone car and sped off to where I couldn’t know, all I heard from them was directing some people on phone that we’re at commercial court,” she narrated to our Chief Spy on Tuesday who visited her in Luzira prisons.
In her narration, Coreen says she got a salary loan from Orient Bank in 2017 amounting to about Ugx60m and cleared it fully in the agreed time, but months later saw I&M agents threatening to arrest her if she wasn’t willing to cough over Ugx125m.
Now, in their petition, Coreen’s elder sister Nawongha Winnie informed PM Nabbanja that her sister Coreen, a 43-year-old single-mother of two needed urgent help to get justice and be presented before court to defend herself.
”On behalf of very traumatized and concerned family members, we request you to intervene in this matter so that Coreen may get justice. Our sister deserves an opportunity to defend herself in the courts of law. We kindly ask for your assistance in facilitating her release from Luzira prisons so that she can find her two children since she’s a single mother. The abductors didn’t even consider the plight of the child they saw her dropping at school. She stayed there uncollected for two days without help. Both children are traumatized by the incident. Your intervention could be pivotal in addressing the injustices being meted on innocent citizens by Banks like I&M,” reads the Nawongha’s letter.
Read Nawongha’s Full Letter Below
”For The Kind Attention Of
Rt.Hon. Robinah Nabbanja
The Prime Minister Of The Republic Of Uganda and
Leader of Government Business In Parliament
Date: September, 20,2024
Dear Rt.Hon. Prime Minister,
I hope this letter finds you well. I want to thank you so very much for prioritizing the poor and voiceless in your leadership style. You’re uniquely gifted in your own right, Rt. Honourable. Your leadership style has brought the Government even closer to ordinary citizens. Thank you.
Rt.Hon, I am writing to bring to your attention a deeply concerning situation involving my sister Ms. Coreen Mary Hamba, a 43-year-old single mother of two, who was violently abducted on June 17, 2024 around 5:45am in Entebbe, as she dropped her child at school, Entebbe Education Centre, around 5:45am
On that fateful day, Coreen was violently forced into a waiting tinted drone car, parked outside the school gate by four unidentified mean-looking men and driven at breakneck speed from Entebbe to Kampala. After three months of searching for her in vain, it has since come to my attention that she is being held in Luzira women’s prison on allegations related to a shs60m salary loan she lawfully obtained from Orient Bank (now I&M Bank) and cleared before she left employment at Ericsson company, about 7 yrs ago.
Coreen contends that to the best of her recollection, she cleared the loan with Orient Bank and even closed her account with them officially with their guidance, but she was shocked when I&M Bank, which took over from Orient Bank abducted her claiming they were demanding shs 125m from her, yet she has never taken any loan from them, and it was her first time hearing that there exists a bank called I&M Bank.
But more important to note Rt. Honourable Prime Minister is the following:
1- Impunity by I&M Bank: For the argument’s sake, let’s even assume that Coreen owes I&M Bank. This becomes a civil matter, NOT criminal, because she didn’t break into the Bank. The Bank chose to use impunity by abducting my sister, passing her through court corridors in a bid to “cure” the illegalities already committed against her during the abduction, and without giving her a chance to defend herself, she was simply dropped before a waiting commercial registrar, and in few minutes, conveyed to Luzira prisons, where she has so far spent 3 months without facing any court or legal services. The use of drones and security personnel to settle suspected Bank-customer disputes is an abuse of court processes and the sanctity of what is supposed to be the temple of justice, which, if left to blossom unchallenged, then the very ideals and sacrifices for which our beloved president went to the bush to defend will be in vain. The Government you serve has put in place due processes on how disputes of such nature can be resolved by respecting the laws of the land. Maxim law on equity dictates thus; “He who comes to the temple of justice must come with clean hands”. I&M Bank is seeking justice by committing injustice through abductions.
2- Why do Banks target Salaried Companies staff for Loans With Insurance Policies? A salary loan has an Insurance policy and a guarantor, which is your employer/company. Every month your employer automatically deducts the Bank loan and Insurance fees. The reason they pay the Insurance is that in case the employee loses job and is unable to pay, the Insurance comes in. That’s the reason the employer and Insurance Company cut her salary. So before any arrest is done, a law-abiding Bank needs to first engage to get a clear status report.
On behalf of very traumatized and concerned family members, we request you to intervene in this matter so that Coreen may get justice. Our sister deserves an opportunity to defend herself in the courts of law. We kindly ask for your assistance in facilitating her release from Luzira prison so that she can find her two children, since she’s a single mother. The abductors didn’t even consider the plight of the child they saw her dropping at school. She stayed there uncollected for two days without help. Both children are traumatized by the incident. Your intervention could be pivotal in addressing the injustice being meted out to innocent citizens by Banks like I&M.
Thank you for your kind attention to this urgent matter.
Yours Sincerely
Nawongha Winnie nawonghawinnie3@gmail.com |
