Wandegeya police station is holding in custody the Nyakasura Alumni Association treasurer for allegedly using his position in the dfcu bank to steal over Shs 133 million from the association's accounts held in three banks.
Suspect Faisal Bahati, who was recently fired from dfcu bank has been in custody since February 1 and is alleged to have forged signatures and used them to withdraw money from the three different accounts in dfcu bank, Centenary bank and Equity bank. The bank accounts under the name; Nyakasura Renovation are: 3201669577 in Centenary bank, 01011114623702 in dfcu bank, and 1001201067509 in Equity bank.
The case was reported at Wandegeya police earlier this month by the members of the Nyakasura School Alumni Association, a group for which Bahati has been the treasurer and also one of the three signatories to the Renovation accounts.
The association brings together former students of Nyakasura School, located in Kabarole district. Last week, dfcu put a notice in the newspapers indicating that Bahati and two other staff, Philbert Aijuka and Saidi Ddamulira were no longer employees of the bank.
"This is to notify the public that the above named persons ceased being employees of dfcu bank limited. They are not authorised to transact any business on behalf of dfcu limited," read the statement which also carried the photographs of the three people.
It is not clear if Aijuka and Ddamulira are also part of the fraud. Jude Kansiime, the head of marketing and communication at the bank did not return our repeated calls. According to statements recorded by the association members, a few weeks ago they realised that money amounting to Shs 98 million was missing from their dfcu bank account and Shs 30 million from the Centenary bank account. Another Shs 5.1 million was missing from the Equity bank account. The total amount defrauded is Shs 133.1 million.
The association members sought explanation from the three banks which produced documents showing that the money had been withdrawn with the consent of all signatories in different intervals and had been picked by the association treasurer.
It is not clear if Aijuka and Ddamulira are also part of the fraud. Jude Kansiime, the head of marketing and communication at the bank did not return our repeated calls. According to statements recorded by the association members, a few weeks ago they realised that money amounting to Shs 98 million was missing from their dfcu bank account and Shs 30 million from the Centenary bank account. Another Shs 5.1 million was missing from the Equity bank account. The total amount defrauded is Shs 133.1 million.
The association members sought explanation from the three banks which produced documents showing that the money had been withdrawn with the consent of all signatories in different intervals and had been picked by the association treasurer.
According to the deputy Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire, the suspect forged signatures of his colleagues and used them to withdraw the money while he was still working in dfcu and also after he had been sacked from the same bank.
"We have already started investigations and we are trying to trace for the stolen money. We highly suspect that he was not working alone in this scam," Owoyesigyire said.
The suspicion of not working alone is based on information that the other signatories to the accounts didn't receive any notification of the various withdraws that were effected by Bahati and yet it is the banks' procedure that for every transaction, an SMS notification is sent to the account holder or its signatories.
Bahati is currently being held on tentative charges of fraud, theft of money and conspiracy to defraud. In a telephone conversation, Frank Manyindo, the Nyakasura School headmaster, who is also a member of the school's alumni, said that the banks abdicated their responsibility to protect clients' money.
"We have already started investigations and we are trying to trace for the stolen money. We highly suspect that he was not working alone in this scam," Owoyesigyire said.
The suspicion of not working alone is based on information that the other signatories to the accounts didn't receive any notification of the various withdraws that were effected by Bahati and yet it is the banks' procedure that for every transaction, an SMS notification is sent to the account holder or its signatories.
Bahati is currently being held on tentative charges of fraud, theft of money and conspiracy to defraud. In a telephone conversation, Frank Manyindo, the Nyakasura School headmaster, who is also a member of the school's alumni, said that the banks abdicated their responsibility to protect clients' money.
"It is the responsibility of the bank to protect clients' money. The money was stolen by their staff. The bank should refund it," Manyindo said.
Manyindo said the money had been collected from former students of the school to "for specific work which is not complete."
Asked on what the alumni community has done to push the banks to have their money refunded, Manyindo referred URN to David Kihumuro, the chairperson of the alumni association. Kihumuro too said he was in a meeting and promised to call back.
David Kaija, the head of projects for the Nyakasura School Alumni, first declined to give details - saying he was in a meeting. He later called back, and revealed that the association has since engaged Bank of Uganda to have the money recovered.
Allen Ayebare, Centenary bank's chief manager corporate affairs and communication said she was out of office and referred URN to Michael Bulyerali from the communications department. Bulyerali said he didn't know about the case and promised to get back after consulting "about three divisions".
Nyakasura School, a 93-year-old institution, was one of the powerhouses of education in Uganda, in the same league as Kings College Budo, Namilyango College, St Mary's College Kisubi, Gayaza High School, Ntare School and Busoga College Mwiri among others. Most of these traditional giants, however, fell into decline in performance over the last 20 years, a factor that could have forced the Nyakasura alumni to step in to restore the lost glory.
In 2017 the alumni embarked on a fundraising drive and up to Shs 165 million was realized in cash and pledges. In December, the alumni community renovated and restored the hydram water pump system at the school. The system, built in the 1940s, pumps water from a nearby river to Nyakasura School and the neighbouring communities. The group also embarked on renovation of dormitories at the school.
Manyindo said the money had been collected from former students of the school to "for specific work which is not complete."
Asked on what the alumni community has done to push the banks to have their money refunded, Manyindo referred URN to David Kihumuro, the chairperson of the alumni association. Kihumuro too said he was in a meeting and promised to call back.
David Kaija, the head of projects for the Nyakasura School Alumni, first declined to give details - saying he was in a meeting. He later called back, and revealed that the association has since engaged Bank of Uganda to have the money recovered.
Allen Ayebare, Centenary bank's chief manager corporate affairs and communication said she was out of office and referred URN to Michael Bulyerali from the communications department. Bulyerali said he didn't know about the case and promised to get back after consulting "about three divisions".
Nyakasura School, a 93-year-old institution, was one of the powerhouses of education in Uganda, in the same league as Kings College Budo, Namilyango College, St Mary's College Kisubi, Gayaza High School, Ntare School and Busoga College Mwiri among others. Most of these traditional giants, however, fell into decline in performance over the last 20 years, a factor that could have forced the Nyakasura alumni to step in to restore the lost glory.
In 2017 the alumni embarked on a fundraising drive and up to Shs 165 million was realized in cash and pledges. In December, the alumni community renovated and restored the hydram water pump system at the school. The system, built in the 1940s, pumps water from a nearby river to Nyakasura School and the neighbouring communities. The group also embarked on renovation of dormitories at the school.
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