5 November 2008
editorial
Kampala — Reports that thousands of people in eastern Uganda face the risk of losing billions of shillings in a deposit scam masterminded by TEAM Ltd, warrant an outright Parliamentary investigation.
The victims are right to form a task force and petition the Speaker of Parliament in an effort to recover their money amounting to about Shs8 billion.
The culprits have been exhorting money by promising a 50 per cent profit after every 30 days. Some of the victims include top district officials, civil servants and the business community.
The manner in which this organisation was registered and allowed to operate in both Mbale and Jinja districts raises pertinent questions that deserve concrete answers, which could help not only to recover the money but to ensure this situation does not crop up again.
Last month the police arrested four officers of TEAM (registered as Dutch International Beneficiary Policy) in Jinja after conning depositors of about Shs2 billion. The four officials were arrested but inexplicably released on bond after promising that they would re-open and refund their clients' money.
They have since disappeared. Why and how did this happen?
Secondly, the organisation reportedly has no clear description of the financial system category under which it falls but it has so far taken deposits of about Shs6.7b, which cannot be traced.
TEAM Ltd is not in the books of the Registrar of Companies office, but two registration certificates give different names for the same organisation. The certificate number 85683, signed by the assistant Registrar of Companies, Mr Ben Tubasingwa, and dated November 13, 2006, gives the names of the company as Dutch International Limited by Guarantee. However, certificate number 155603 that allows them operate in Mbale, dated January 10, 2007 and signed by the same officer, is in the names of Dutch International Beneficiary Policy.
The Parliamentary inquiry should find a viable solution to the apparent mess in the Registrar of Companies office, which has been the subject of persistent complaints for some time.
Thirdly, more than Shs6.7b being collected in Mbale and Jinja is definitely a lot of money. How did the police and district authorities in the two districts fail to smell a rat? One could be forgiven for speculating that the authorities might have looked the other way.
The victims of the scam should act fast and submit their petition to the Speaker of Parliament, who should waste no time in forwarding it to the relevant committee for thorough investigation.
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