Police have still failed to finalise investigations into the oil bribery allegations more than five months after the force told legislators that more time was needed to complete the inquiry.
The ad hoc committee on oil heard on Wednesday that police still has pending issues to investigate in respect to the oil bribery allegations leveled against three cabinet ministers.
Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi was accused of soliciting for bribes by facilitating meetings between oil companies. Hillary Onek, the Internal Affairs Minister and his counterpart in the Foreign Affairs, Sam Kutesa were accused of receiving 5.6 million Euros and 17.5 million Euros respectively.
The Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura admitted that the police has not been able to conclusively establish whether the alleged bank account of Hilary Onek at Emirates Bank in Dubai exists or not.
Kayihura says the major obstacle has been the lack of cooperation by the Dubai authorities on this matter.UAE authorities had demanded that the police re-submits the request for information and fulfill certain technical procedures that included using the foreign affairs office. The Uganda police obliged but have since not received any response from Dubai.
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While the source of the documents is still under investigations, the IGP however confirmed that the transactions were never made and that the alleged accounts of Tullow Oil in Bank of Valletta, Malta and London do not exist.
Kayihura says there have been various leads on the sources of the alleged false documents but police has not concluded on the matter.
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Commissioner John Ndungutse, the investigating officer says that he shall be returning to Dubai this week to conduct further investigations. He says the force has not lost hope on Dubai.
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On Kutesa’s allegations, Kayihura also stated that the investigators have not been able to establish the link between the East Africa Development Limited and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. They never got any evidence of transaction between the company and the Bank of Valletta in Malta.
Not convinced by their explanation, Dokolo Woman MP Cecilia Ogwal demanded to know the factors that led to the conclusion that the documents were false and no transaction took place between the alleged banks.
Committee proceedings continue tomorrow.
