The local government committee of parliament has ordered Bank of Uganda to freeze the accounts of Amman Industrial Tools and Equipment Ltd (Aitel), the controversial Indian company named in the botched local council bicycle scheme.
The order comes after it was discovered that Aitel expended the amounts hours after US$ 1.7 million was credited to an account held in Stanbic Bank.
Aitel early this year received 1.7 million dollars from government to supply 70,000 bicycles meant for the lower local councilors. Parliament now says the money was released and spent but the bicycles were not delivered.
On Friday, the Committee Vice Chairperson, Raphael Magezi ordered that the accounts be frozen to save the little amount left. The account now has a balance of 14,217 US Dollars.
The order also covers the accounts held by Patrick Bagarukayo, an individual adversely mentioned in the transaction of the accounts. Bagarukayo’s account was opened in February 2010 and shows that he received a total of 390,000 US Dollars within two days the 1.7 million Dollars was credited on to Aitel account.
Documents before the Committee show that Bagarukayo has a balance of about 76 US Dollars by August this year. The Committee has also served Stanbic Bank with Bagarukayo’s arrest warrants for the bank to keep track of any further transactions.
Magyezi says that any amount recovered is better than nothing at all and promises to have the matter fully investigated.
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Stanbic bank on Friday corrected the figures shared among the shareholders and other individuals. It says that on 15th March 2011, hours after 1.7 million US Dollars was credited onto the account, Arjunan Rajasekaran withdrew about 20,000 Dollars for his personal use and not as earlier put that the former Director Mohinder Singh got the money. The bank also corrected the amount Bagarukayo received from the deal. The new figures indicate that Bagarukayo got 390,000 US Dollars for a role that is still unclear.
