The Chief Magistrate’s Court granted bail to five Post Bank Uganda employees accused of stealing Shs138 million from the bank’s Arua City branch.
The five individuals appeared before Chief Magistrate Paul Matyama, facing charges of theft of Shs138 million and conspiracy to steal Shs38 million between May and December 2023.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charges and applied for bail. The prosecution, led by senior state attorney Simon Angumale, did not oppose the bail application but requested stringent bail terms, noting that investigations were ongoing.
Consequently, each of the accused was granted a cash bail of Shs2 million, while their sureties were each bonded at Shs50 million. The next court appearance is scheduled for March 20.
The accused were arrested upon returning to Arua from the Post Bank head office in Kampala, where they had attended a disciplinary session over the same matter the previous week.
Preliminary reports suggest that the money went missing during transit from the Post Bank Arua branch to Yumbe District.
On February 28, 2024, seven officials allegedly connected with the loss of money were summoned for disciplinary action at the Post Bank head office. These officials included the branch manager, branch operations manager, branch operations supervisor, customer service officer, and three banking officers.
Post Bank communications officer Priscilla Akora confirmed the suspension of staff at the Arua branch to facilitate investigations in an earlier statement to the media.
(Case: On December 30, 2023, a risk assessment team from Post Bank’s head office in Kampala discovered during the end-of-year cash count at the Arua Branch that approximately Shs138,685,450 was missing. Subsequently, the bank launched an inquiry into the missing funds.)
