As Parliament’s COSASE committee starts probing Bank of Uganda over the way it handled the statutory seizure and or subsequent disposal of the assets and liabilities of seven defunct banks, it has emerged that two firms linked to Dr. Louis Kasekende’s wife were awarded a Shs1.4bn deal to carry out a forensic audit of Crane Bank, raising possible conflict of interest on behalf of Kasekende.
Dr. Kasekende the BoU Deputy Governor and disgraced former Executive Director, Bank Supervision, Mrs. Justine Bagyenda closely managed the sale of Crane Bank, with advice from MMAKS Advocates, the BoU external legal advisors.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, a company where Edith Nsubuga Kasekende, the wife to Dr. Kasekende worked for 12 years and is now one of her prime clients at her new company, Inspire Talent Uganda, was awarded a Shs1.4 billion deal to compile an inventory of Crane Banks assets worth Shs345 million.
Inspire Talent is owned by Edith Kasekende as well as Stewart Kasekende and Vivienne Kasekende, who each own 250 shares. The trio are Louis Kasekende’s wife, son and daughter respectively.
Shortly after, they were also awarded another Shs936.5 m deal to do a forensic review of Crane Bank. On the same deal, they were advised by Bowmans (AF Mpanga Advocates) – another of Edith Kasekende’s clients. Bowmans would later be handpicked by BoU to represent Crane Bank (in Receivership) in a case against Sudhir Ruparelia but were later dropped after court found them conflicted having represented Sudhir in related cases.
The Leadership Code 2002, describes conflict of interest a situation in which “a leader deals with a matter in which he or she has personal interest and where he or she is in a position to influence the matter, directly or indirectly, in the course of his or her official duties.