Following the leaking of former Bank of Uganda Executive Director (Supervision) Justine Bagyenda’s bank account details, indicating that she had over Shs19 billion stashed away in different banks, Barclays Bank has also come out to apologise to her.
Barclays is the second bank to apologise to Bagyenda after Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) issued an earlier apology. The banks’ apologies however serve to confirm that Bagyenda is indeed a wealthy woman, in the spotlight because her earnings are not commensurate with her salary.
Barclays issued a press statement this morning indicating that, “The Bank regrets the unlawful act leading to the disclosure of our said customer’s information in the media and sincerely apologises to Mrs Justine Bagyenda for the inconvenience this regrettable incident may have caused.”
The bank went ahead to reassure customers that they take the matter of customer confidentially very seriously.
“In line with Financial Institution’s Act, our fiduciary responsibilities and internal company polices, protecting our customers’ personal data is an utmost priority to us as an organisation.”
“Where there are alleged cases of customer information breach, we have in place internal procedures to ensure they are thoroughly investigated and conclusively dealt with.”
The bank adds that “disciplinary action is being taken against the employee responsible for unauthorised access to her accounts in line with the law and our policies.”
Apart from her fat bank accounts, Bagyenda has also been linked to over 17 properties in central and western Uganda and eyebrows have been raised with whistleblowers petitioning the Inspectorate of Government to investigate the source of her vast wealth. There are allegations that she used her position for personal enrichment.
Meanwhile Bagyenda’s sacking has also caused a storm in BoU after she refused to vacate office. She first ran to President Yoweri Museveni to allow her stay in office until her retirement in June but Museveni reportedly told her he couldn’t meddle in BoU affairs.
Bagyenda is said to have run to the IGG Irene Mulyagonja who instructed the BoU governor to stay his new appointments but the move has been construed as the IGG overstepping her mandate as precedent from a previous court cases shows she has no power to control and direct an autonomous body like BoU.
