Investigations into the way Departed Asians Properties were and are still being handled by Departed Asians Properties Custodian Board (DAPCB) and the mismanagement of the board itself are still ongoing, conducted by the select sub-committee consisting of members from Committee of Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE).
The latest development from Parliament is that the sub-committee has ordered the Parliament Criminal Investigations Directorate to arrest former DAPCB Executive Secretary Bernard Tumusingirwe.
According to the sub-committee, Tumusingwire, who is also a UPDF officer took off with the board’s seal, on grounds that the government owed him several months’ salary, and that he wants to be paid first in order to return it.
DAPCB chairman and Finance Minister Matia Kasaija with support from current Executive secretary George William Bizibu refuted Tumusingwire’s claims asserting that he (Tumusingwire) was compensated all his money before his contract was terminated for abuse of office.
Bizibu told the committee that the amount Shs66 million was paid to Tumusingwire’s Barclays Bank account on June 21, 2016, in addition to another Shs22.6 million that was paid to him on advice of the Attorney General.
The orders for Tumusingwire’s arrest comes after he said in a recent interview that he will not hand over the seal until his outstanding arrears are paid in full, and went on to allege that Bizibu’s appointment to office as DAPCB’s Executive Secretary was illegal.
These lengthy investigations keep digging up new matters that show how badly managed the board is.