DFCU Bank may have officially taken over Crane Bank, but tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia bank’s ghost may not settle soon.
The opposition party Forum for Democratic Change is demanding the government to account for the Shs200 billion that was given to Crane Bank as a bail out before it was sold off.
The Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, last Friday announced that the central bank had transferred the liabilities and assets of Crane bank to DFCU Bank.
This has caused confusion including staff retention, fraud among the top bosses but Uganda’s immediate concern is the tax payers’ Shs200 billion that was intended to keep Crane bank independently in the banking business.
Speaking to journalists at the party headquarters in Najjanakumbi on Monday, the Deputy Secretary General of the FDC Harold Kaija said that when Crane bank ran bankrupt last year, government used taxpayers’ money to rescue the fourth largest bank in the country according to recent rankings. Mr Kaija however wondered why the bank had been sold yet the government had injected some money in the banking institution.
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“Our concern in that sale is a matter where Shs200 billion was injected in Crane bank. That money was meant to stabilize it so that it still exists as a player in the economy but now that the bank has been sold off, what happens to tax payer’s money? We want to know the recovery plan of our money,” Mr Kaija said.
Mr Kaija has challenged Parliament to stand up and ask the Bank of Uganda and Ministry of Finance to return the money to the government coffers.
“Parliament must come out and ask minister of finance to give us a road map on how this money is going to be recovered so that tax payers do not lose such huge sums of money,” Mr Kaija said.
Stolen
Mr Kaija added that if this money is not accounted for, it will be evident that the government just used Crane bank as a plot to steal the money.
Also Read: The real owners of DFCU/Crane Bank unmasked
Also read: EXCLUSIVE: How Sudhir begged Museveni for Shs200 billion Crane Bank bailout
