KAMPALA – Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) has indicated it will summon all parties mentioned in the Bank of Uganda currency saga.
The officials according to MPs will be grilled on their roles in the incident and how consignments of city businessmen found their way on the BoU flight including the alleged five extra boxes of printed currency on the same plane.
The Cosase confirmed the summons after officials from Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) failed to respond to a number of questions as they were grilled in relation to mishandling of the charted plane which carried BoU currency and the purported private cargo on the same flight.
Appearing before the committee chaired by Mr. Ibrahim Kasozi, Mr Ronald Barongo, the CAA director for Safety and Security, said CAA was not aware of the extra cargo which was on the plane or what it contained.
He said they received an application from an agent in Kenya to permit the chartered plane permission to land at Entebbe airport with printed material.
“It’s true that we received an application to allow in a flight with printed material belonging to BOU but we did not know about extra consignment since it was not included in the application,” Mr Barongo said.
On his part, Mr Sooma Ayub, the director of Airport Security, said the BoU cargo was not screened because it was a special consignment and thus they cannot tell what was inside.
“The currency cargo has its special arrangement which starts and ends in Bank of Uganda. This particular cargo has special escorts who go straight to the airport with their bullion van to pick the money, so we had less involvement in this,” Mr. Ayub said.
However, Dr David Kakuba, the CAA managing director, said they are not the only agency involved in clearing goods and passengers at the airport.
He said there is also Uganda Revenue Authority customs officials who clear certain cargo.
Other officials to be summoned include URA, CAA and BoU to explain the saga.
Central Bank Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile on Friday June 14, confirmed he personally requested the Anti-Corruption Unit at State House to investigate an unusual transaction.
The government has since denied the claim of extra printed currency.
