Centenary Bank employee charged with stealing sh103m

An employee of Centenary Bank has been charged with stealing sh103m from his employer.

Alex Kyambadde appeared before Justice Lawrence Gidudu at the Anti-Corruption Court in Kololo, Kampala and he denied the charges.

Prosecution, led by chief state attorney Harriet Angom from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) alleges that Kyambadde in May 2019, while employed by Centenary bank, stole sh103m from his employers.

Kyambadde was charged alongside Stephen Kyeswa, a Centenary Bank agent and director of Revero Investment Limited, a data service provider company.

It is purported that Kyambadde made fictitious foreign currency transactions, claiming that a company called Revero Investment had changed US dollars into Uganda shillings, whereas not.

Prosecution said some of the deposits allegedly made by Kyambadde had no documents to support the transactions.

“Investigations at Centenary Bank Kireka branch revealed that the suspicious withdrawals were posted in the bank’s system by the accused. There were no corresponding withdrawal forms filled in by the clients, nor was there any evidence that those clients or their representatives ever withdrew money from the Kireka branch as reflected in the system,” court documents state.

It is further alleged that Kyeswa laundered money between February and May 2019, when he allegedly transferred sh103m from the Revero Investment Limited account to Kyambadde, yet he knew that the transactions were illegal.

Prosecution said Kyeswa, as the manager of Revero, allowed Kyambadde to deposit money on his account and that he would later withdraw the money and deposit it on his account.

Prosecution said that Kyeswa allowed Kyambadde to allegedly deposit money on his personal account through cheques on different days.

The duo denied the charges and was freed on bail.

It is alleged that as investigations were going on, the management of the bank received a complaint from the bank manager, Moroto branch, that money was withdrawn from the accounts of several clients.

The withdrawal reportedly took place at Centenary Bank Kireka branch after Kyambadde allegedly authorised the transactions.

Prosecution said sh20m was withdrawn from the Moroto branch. Kyambadde previously worked at that branch.

The hearing date is yet to be fixed by the registrar of the Anti-Corruption Court.

Sentence

Under section (3)(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, any person convicted of the offence of money laundering is liable to 15-year imprisonment or a fine not exceeding sh2b.