KAMPALA: Witnesses lined up by business man Hamis Kiggundu to testify in a case against Diamond Trust Bank(DTB) have a history of fraudulent dealings, criminal activities and abuse of office, an investigation by this website has found out.
Asiimwe Shirley, the former Credit Administration Manager and Namugga Anati Kayita,the former Manager Credit Admnistration, were both dismissed from the bank on charges of embezzlement and causing financial loss of Shs 1.9b.
The duo were charged before the Ant-Corruption Court and are currently out on bail. The duo diverted Shs 1.9b from the Credit Department of the Bank.
Clayton Lakony Omona, the former head of Security, Fraud Prevention and Forensic Investigations, is a police deserter who is being hunted by security operatives. Clayton resigned after messing up the bank.
DTB says that Hamis Kiggundu in default on the payment of another $3.662m out of a total loan facility of $4m and another $458,604 on a loan facility of $500,000, as of January 21, 2020.
DTB served him with a demand notice to either pay up or lose the assets that he submitted as collateral security. The bank threatened to attach a plot on Makerere Hill Road and other prime commercial properties.
When DTB dragged Ham Enterprises to court, it requested that Regulation 13 of the Mortgage Act 2012 be imposed upon Ham Enterprises (U) Limited.
The regulation stipulates that if a person is to file proceedings against a Bank they should first deposit 30% of whichever amounts are involved, with the Mortgagee Bank.
While Kiggundu could have succeeded with this, the bank says it will be producing evidence in court soon.
“We wish to clarify the facts of the case which are that Ham Enterprises Ltd, a longtime customer of the Bank, and some of their related entities borrowed money from the Bank which they failed to repay. The Bank then commenced a recovery process together with the customer who made proposals on how to settle the account which were agreed upon,” the bank said.
“However, Ham Enterprises Ltd then filed a suit in court against the Bank with the untrue claim that that the Bank never disbursed loans to them among other entities. DTB filed a defense in turn, and the Bank shall present the evidence in court at the appropriate time.”
