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Uganda’s Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja, has instructed the Bank of Uganda (BoU) to investigate alleged fraud syndicates within the country’s financial institutions. The directive comes in response to a surge in customer complaints regarding unauthorized withdrawals from their bank accounts.

The Prime Minister of Uganda, Robinah Nabbanja, has directed the Bank of Uganda (BoU) to investigate the alleged syndicates operating within financial institutions that have been defrauding customers of their money. The Prime Minister made this directive on Friday during an address to Parliament, following a series of complaints from customers who reported unauthorized withdrawals from their bank accounts.

The Prime Minister said she was concerned about the increasing cases of fraud and vowed to act. “So, I am going to inform the Bank of Uganda so that they can investigate these allegations. I believe the Ministry of Finance will come here with a report. I also intend on causing a meeting because we were told under PDM, some of our people in PDM were also defrauded,” she said.

The directive comes amid public outcry and criticism over the perceived silence of the Bank of Uganda on the issue of bank fraud. Recently, a video of a customer of Equity Bank, Farook Ssekandi, went viral on social media, where he claimed that Shs10 million was withdrawn from his account without his consent. He accused the bank of stealing his money and failing to help him recover it.

Equity Bank denied any involvement in the fraud and said that the customer’s money was taken by unknown individuals after he lost his phone. The bank advised customers to report any loss of their phones to the bank immediately and said it was working with the authorities to resolve the matter.

In another incident, a customer of Centenary Bank claimed that Shs100 millions of her savings was withdrawn from her account by unknown parties. The bank later refunded her money after an internal investigation revealed that one of its staff had colluded with a fraudster to reset her pin and enable the withdrawals.

The Prime Minister’s directive to the Bank of Uganda is expected to shed light on the extent and nature of the syndicates operating within the banking sector and to identify measures to prevent further losses for customers. The Prime Minister also urged customers to be vigilant and protect their personal and financial information from fraudsters.