Bank of Uganda currency saga investigations extended to Mbale, Kabale

By Our Reporter

19^th June 2019

Investigations into the extra cargo that was loaded on a Bank of Uganda (BoU) chattered plane have been extended to currency centers in Mbale, Kabale and Fort Portal.

A Senior detective at the Criminal Investigations Department has intimated, that after interrogating top BoU officials, by a team led by the Criminal Investigations Director Grace Akullo, it was found necessary to interrogate officer at the three currency centers who are said to have been transferred from the head offices in Kampala shortly to the importation of the consignment, whether they had prior information linking to the consignment.

Available information indicates that the Central Bank sent its officials to pick printed cash overseas and alerted Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) about a consignment that required fast clearance.

The chartered plane landed at Entebbe International Airport on April 27 and was cleared by URA customs department in the presence of BoU officials, BoU security, aviation security, police and other security agencies. But it was reported that instead of the expected 20 pallets, the consignment had 25 pallets.

Sources indicated that the head of Mbale currency centre who was swiftly called to witness the offloading of BoU consignment became suspicious of the extra pallets and briefed BoU Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime.

And on May 3^rd, Tumusiime wrote to the Head of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, Lt Col Edith Nakalema to conduct a probe into an extra cargo on the BoU plane, leading to the arrest of a number of officials, suspected of having a role to play in the scandal.