KAMPALA - The Anti-Corruption Court has freed on bail three accused persons in a case where they are accused of causing a sh9.1b financial loss to Stanbic Bank.
Judge Jane Okuo Kajuga, released Ritah Komukama, a service consultant with the bank’s Freedom City branch, Fiona Bwende Dede the executive director of Famane Investment Company Limited and Brian Natukunda a sales executive at Kalimjee energy.
Okuo granted the accused bail after they presented sureties in court and they were found to be substantial. They were released on a cash bail of sh15m, each.
Denied bail
The judge however, declined to release on bail Ghebreyesus Oman, the chief executive director of Famane Investment Company Limited, David Ssekitto, the bank’s Freedom City branch manager, Daniel Elijah Wanzu, a director of Famane, and Geoffrey Nsabagasan, a teller at the bank’s Freedom City branch.
Other accused persons are Phiona Nankya, a service consultant with the bank’s Garden City Branch and Moses Ayesiga, the branch manager at the Garden City Branch, Robel Classie Okuba Tefera, an Eritrean refugee, Raphael Oscar Lutaaya Kyabukasa, the director of Petrom Limited.
Allegations
The prosecution alleges that Okuba, on February 2, 2023, at Stanbic Bank’s Garden City Branch in Kampala, fraudulently caused the transfer of $287,00 (sh1.046b) from bank account no. 9030008020336 in the name of Nile Energy Limited to the bank’s account no. 9030017636544 in the name of Petrom Limited, by falsely holding out to be Hussein Abdulhakim, one of the authorised signatories to the company (Nile Energy), knowing it would cause financial loss to the bank.
The prosecution further alleges that Okuba, in the same period, fraudulently caused the transfer of $295,000 (1.075b) from bank account no. 9030008020336 to account no. 9030012835107 in the name of Dixon Kagurusi Ampumuza, by falsely holding out to be Hussein Abdulhakim, one of the authorised signatories to the company (Nile Energy), knowing it would cause financial loss to the bank.
In the same period, according to the prosecution, Ayesiga and Nankya irregularly processed an inter-account transfer of the money in question, without following the established bank procedures for processing such transfers.
Meanwhile, Ssekitto, Komukama and Nsabagasan are accused of irregularly processing the payment of $1,280,000 (4.7b) from the bank’s account no. 9030008020336, in the name of Nile Energy Limited, without following the established bank procedures for processing such transfers, having reason to believe that such an act would cause financial loss to the bank.
They allegedly committed the offence between January 23, 2023, and February 2, 2023, at Stanbic Bank Garden City Branch.
Oman, Bwende and Wanzu are alleged to have received $295,000 (sh1.075b) through the bank’s account no. 9030018628871, in the name of Famane Investment Company Limited, purporting that it was payment received from a land sale, whereas not, knowing the funds were proceeds of crime.
The prosecution further alleges that Okuba, Ayesiga, Natukunda and others still at large in January 2023, at different places in Kampala, conspired together to defraud the bank of $582,000 (2.12b), which was fraudulently transferred from the bank’s account no. 9030008020336 in the name of Nile Energy Limited.
Source: New Vision