Hamis Kiggundu with his lawyers in court recently I have been keenly following the case of Uganda’s businessman, Hamis Kiggundu (Ham) of Ham Enterprises (U) Ltd against Diamond Trust Bank (Uganda) and Diamond Trust Bank (Kenya) of unlawfully debiting Shs 120 billion from his accounts.
When Ham had just filed this case, some Ugandans thought that it is just something new in the banking sector. It is not. Many people have experienced the same challenges like Ham.
In this case, Ham indicates that he provided security/mortgage at Plot No.923, Block 9 located at Makerere Hill Road to support the credit facilities he had got from DTB. After carrying out an audit and reconciliation of the loan accounts, he found out that DTB had taken Shs 34 billion and $23 million from his accounts.
However, the businessman wants the Commercial Court to declare that DTB breached the loan agreements entered with him when the bank recovered over and above what was agreed upon in the loan installments and interest payment deduction.
This silent growing problem has been here for long and now that Ham has come up to disclose what is happening to people’s accounts, the public should take interest in this case. A habit that affects those with billions on their accounts may also affect those with Shs 100,000.
Some people take it lightly when they find out that a bank has debited some amount on their accounts forgetting that however small it is, it counts and means a lot if cumulatively deducted on each customer’s account.
Regular monitoring and auditing of our bank accounts should be a lesson learnt from Ham’s case because it is an eye-opener to some of us who never mind to inquire about unclear transactions in form of direct debits and direct credits on our accounts.
Unlawful debiting of customers’ money does not only breach the signed agreements between the customers and the bank but also kills the integrity of the bank hence creating mistrust in the banking industry.
David Serumaga,
Luweero
Politics shouldn’t divide us
With Uganda now fully engrossed in an election season, the youths are expected to use this opportunity to choose their leaders, and for some to make money.That said, I want to caution the youths to tread carefully because during such times the stakes tend to be high. Uganda is still a developing country and the youths have a huge role to play in taking […]
