By Fred Kiva
Government has asked the police to clarify statements regarding the ongoing investigations at Bank of Uganda.
Addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre on Tuesday, Government Spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo described as absurd statements by Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga on investigations regarding extra money printed at Bank of Uganda.
“We have seen an absurd statement attributed to the police spokesperson in relation to the ongoing Bank of Uganda (BOU) inquiries. I call it absurd because we don’t know where he got his information from, that police is investigating extra cash printed,” Opondo said.
He explained that the investigations have nothing to do with the extra printed cash, but rather the inquiries are about the extra cargo. “Extra cargo in protocol is an anomaly when BOU or someone else charters a plane,” the government spokesman argued,” before asking the police to clarify on their statement.
“We ask the police to clarify on their statement about Bank of Uganda in accordance with existing investigations. We believe the police made a mistake while addressing the media,” Ofwono Opondo said.
Addressing the media on Monday Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga said they raided homes of six senior Bank of Uganda officials and recovered documents which suggest printing of unauthorized excess currency notes.
“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), what was unofficial, but genuine money,” he said.
Last Wednesday, the State House Anti Corruption Unit and police raided Bank of Uganda and arrested a number of top officials over what the Ant-Corruption Unit head Lt Col Edith Nakalema later explained as anomalies in the Bank’s procurement and supply chain activities. She did not make mention of anything to do with extra money illegally printed, although reports then suggested that Sh90billion extra cash had been illegally printed by individuals.
Nakalema said then, however, that the arrested bank officials were being interrogated together with others from Customs and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). “The investigation is being carried out following an invitation by the Governor of the Bank of Uganda and in close cooperation with the Governor’s office,” she explained.
