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Citizen Posts
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Over the past week, post Bank Uganda a government owned Commercial Bank has been in the news, not because it made a lot of profits or won accolades for it’s banking services but because counterfeit cash amounting to Shs500m was found at the bank’s Mbale Branch.
The incident which happened in the second of week of last month came to the media last week causing uproar and majority of Ugandans condemning the Bank and it’s leadership led by the Managing Director Julius Kakeeto.
Some critics even concluded that some of Post Bank’s customers might have been given some fake because this might have been going on for some time and is believed to have been an inside job by some bosses at the branch some of whom have since been arrested and remanded as police widens its investigations to get to the gist of the matter.
The fake notes scandal has spotted the bank in bad light and might affect it’s business since customers will hesitate banking their money in post bank for fear of being served with fake/ counterfeit notes.
The bank in a statement said it’s staff colluded and whisked in the fake cash at the Mbale Branch Vault and was only discovered when some staff took some of it from the vault to the counter where it’s authenticity was questioned.
A police detective privy to the probe who spoke to media last weekend on condition of anonymity revealed that preliminary investigations show that a syndicate involving several bank personnel and bosses was behind the counterfeit cash.
According to Pricilla Akora, the bank’s Head of Marketing and Communications, some staff have been arrested including a former manager of operations at the Mbale Branch who had earlier handed over officer to a new manager on 28th October 2024.
“Initial investigations point to a collusion of the bank’s custodians of cash at the Mbale Branch”- Post Bank’s brief statement reads in part
The fake notes scandal is not good news to the Managing Director Mr. Julius Kakeeto who according to reports is under pressure to keep his job after surviving to be fired by the Bank’s Board and Minister of Finance Matia Kasaija recently over issues surrounding the procurement of the technology that was used to put in place the Wendi system and poor performance and was only saved by Minister Henry Musasizi.
For the Wendi Procurement Scandal, it’s reported that the IGG had even started investigations and Kakeeto too was supposed to be investigated. Mr. Kakeeto who is serving a very tough and conditioned second term as Post bank’s MD was appointed to the role in November 2019 after quitting Orient Bank where he also served as MD from 2015 to 2019.
Kakeeto is also the current Chairman of the Uganda Bankers Association (UBA); an umbrella organization for financial institutions licensed and supervised by Bank of Uganda after serving the association as its vice chairperson, he was elected to that position in May 2024 taking over from Sarah Arapta the CEO of Citi Bank who served from 2021 to 2023.
Now much as police is investigating, the Bank’s leadership headed by Mr. Julius Kakeeto will find hard time explaining to their bosses including government on how such a huge amount of cash amounting to Shs500m could enter and beat the bank’s verification processes and it had even reached the counter to be given to customers who have long been having confidence that you’re only sure of genuine notes in the bank but now no longer the case.
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