Unmasking the sophisticated Multi-Billion Shilling Money Laundering Scandal at Centenary Bank and academic Forgery by top Brass
A more shocking expose reveals new details surrounding two massive, unreported fraud scandals at Centenary Bank, a prominent Catholic Ugandan financial institution. The incidents, totalling UGX 5.51 billion shillings, have unearthed a tangled web of systemic failures, including weak internal controls, questionable corporate governance, and a glaring lack of transparency that suggests the frauds were not merely theft, but possibly part of a sophisticated money laundering operation by the top Brass.
The bank’s failure to pursue the stolen funds or hold key individuals’ accountable raises serious questions about who truly benefited.
The Heists and The Cover-up
The first fraud, a UGX 3.56 billion heist on October 4, 2023, was executed through the utilities payment system, with transactions posted to multiple registered MTN mobile money agent lines in tranches between UGX 80 Million Shillings to UGX 99 million shillings. This was followed on August 1, 2024, by a second fraud of UGX 1.95 billion affecting the agent banking platform where transactions in tranches of UGX 50 million shillings were posted to various float accounts. In both cases, the imbalances were linked to the Mapeera Branch at the Bank’s Headquarters, while the transactions were initiated from other locations notably Kabale Branch and Kawempe-Bwaise respectively, a classic red flag for layering in money laundering.
The investigation into these events has been a study in dysfunction. The bank’s internal probe bypassed crucial steps, instead implicating and dismissing innocent, lower-ranking IT staff. The bank-hired forensic company QA Consults Ltd was reportedly denied access to the core banking system for forensic analysis which would have successfully unveiled the trail of the transactions and the unauthorized access to the Teller profiles, a move that effectively sabotaged the investigation and protected those with higher-level access. The fact that the affected tellers—whose credentials were used—were not held accountable further points to a deliberate effort to obscure the truth.
Forged Credentials, Systemic Failure and incompetency
This publication has unearthed an appallingly alarming information that the very department responsible for monitoring and reporting suspicious transactions—the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Compliance department—was compromised from within. Its Chief Manager, Mr. Chemutai Samuel, allegedly used forged academic papers from Kampala International University to secure his position. University records contradict his claim of a First-Class Honours degree, but alarmingly he was included on the official graduation list and had a lower class of degree as shown on the documentation available to this Publication..
This revelation highlights a profound failure in the bank’s Human Resources vetting process, which allowed an individual with falsified credentials and moreover with no evidence of a graduation Certificate in his Staff personal file, to hold a critical position in a department meant to safeguard against financial crime. Furthermore, this matter was brought to attention of the Internal Audit and Risk Committee but they chose to give it a blind eye. Such a lapse in oversight is particularly concerning, as it suggests that the bank’s ability to detect and prevent money laundering was fundamentally crippled.
Mr. Chemuta Samuel
Justice Denied and Funds Unrecovered
Despite reporting the cases to Kampala Metropolitan Police, the external investigations stalled, yielding no arrests of the recipients of the funds. In particular the case file number KMP GEF 440/2023 for 3.56 Billion heist, reported in October 2023 never culminated into any prosecution of the perpetrators. The most damning detail, however, is the bank’s apparent inaction. Centenary Bank did not pursue the recovery of the stolen funds, an unprecedented move for a financial institution that lost billions. This suggests that the funds were not simply stolen, but successfully laundered and perhaps protected by powerful interests.
The bank’s board now faces intense scrutiny over serious corporate governance issues, including a lack of independence, Compliance, Risk management, accountability, and transparency. Their failure to conduct a thorough investigation, protect innocent employees, and recover the lost billions points to a possible conflict of interest and cover-up to shield top management’s involvement in these financial heists.
This publication has further unearthed a shocking revelation of how Centenary Bank has been grappling with internally orchestrated frauds by the top Brass like Lwanga Francis Buziba a retired head of Church business Unit who fleeced customers money amounting to UGX 1 billion from 2012 to 2022. Additionally, a one Aine Amos who was formally a head of Loans from Natete and Mapeera Branches —was disbursing himself fraudulent loans which was a clear conflict of interest and a gross misconduct —an issue that was whistle-blown but he was instead protected by the Human Resources department headed by Mrs. Nasejje Solomy Luyombo by promoting him to a higher role of Chief Manager at the Bank’s Headquarters. All these clandestine and subversive activities were fully brought to the attention of the compliance department headed by Mr. Kabagambe Frank who surreptitiously chose to cover them up instead of reporting them to the Financial Intelligence Authority and Bank of Uganda. Now with a terribly compromised compliance department, it creates a red flag of cover up of covert and fraudulent activities which worsen the risk of Money laundering within Centenary Bank.
Our effort to reach both the Managing Director Mr. Fabian Kasi and the Executive Director Mr. Balikuddembe Joseph for comments on their known telephone numbers was futile.
Executive Director: Mr. Balikuddembe Joseph
The highly stealth and shocking incidents at Centenary Bank are a wake-up call for Uganda’s financial sector. There is an urgent need for a thorough external audit and scrutiny of the entire Bank focusing on all the critical departments especially compliance, Risk, Human Resources, and IT in order to save the bank from collapsing learning from the incident of the defunct Crane Bank.
They underscore a critical need for stronger statutory and regulatory frameworks and more effective supervision by the Bank of Uganda. Until these issues are addressed, the integrity of the banking system and the security of customer deposits remain at risk.
The evidence of the 3.56 Billion Shillings Suspicious Transactions performed on October 4th, 2023 can been seen in the story run earlier in the link below and information below;
