NONE OF the Ugandan men accused of receiving bribes from Tullow Oil have bank accounts in the UK or Malta, according to documents seen by The Irish Times, as one of the government officials implicated in the scandal promised to step down yesterday.
According to letters signed by the London Metropolitan Police and by Maltese police forces, which were presented to the Ugandan parliament, none of the names mentioned appeared in bank records, and neither was there a record of the alleged transactions.
Tullow Oil yesterday repeated strong denials of the bribery claims, which were made by west Uganda youth MP Gerald Karuhanga. The company said the claims were outrageous and demonstrably false. There was a growing feeling in the Ugandan capital that the allegations had come from commercial rivals of Tullow who wanted to damage the Irish firm.
Maltese police, responding to a formal request for information from Ugandan investigators, said that after a thorough investigation by Bank of Valletta staff, “it was concluded without any doubt that the companies and persons mentioned in the Letter Rogatory do not hold any accounts with BOV [Bank of Valletta] and the transactions receipt submitted are forgeries as no such transfer of monies had ever taken place”.
The letter is signed by Insp Maurice Curmi of the economic crime unit and dated June 21st, 2011.
Internal affairs minister Hilary Onek was accused in parliament this week of receiving almost €6 million in bribes into an account with Bank of Valletta. He promised to step down yesterday once investigations into the alleged crimes began. Mr Onek was the country’s minister of energy when London-listed Heritage Oil PLC sold its 50 per cent stake in two oil blocks to Tullow Oil.
Foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa, who resigned on Wednesday over a separate corruption scandal, was accused of receiving €17.5 million processed under the name of East Africa Development Ltd in Nairobi, with an account in EFG bank in the UK.
However, in a letter signed by Det Sgt George Simpson of the Metropolitan police on January 19th, it was found that there was no such organisation holding a bank account with EFG Private Bank or EFG Eurobank.
“Both banks state that if €17.5 million had been received into their accounts, such activity would have triggered their anti-money laundering processes and the transactions would have been closely scrutinised before the money was allowed to enter their banking systems.” Neither organisation could vouch for the authenticity of the letters.