By Our Reporter,
NATIONAL
The catholic church owned bank in Uganda, Centenary Bank is on the spot after a client sued the bank for defrauding him of Shs15.86m.
Charles Abelebele, a UPDF solidier says the money was defrauded while he was deployed in Mogadishu, Somalia in February 2021. He accuses the bank of fraud, negligence and breach of duty.
In a suit filed at the chief magistrate courts at Mengo in Kampala on June 13th through his lawyers of Allan and Partners Advocates, the solidier alleges that unknown people withdrew shs15.86m from his account through agent banking between February and July 2021 which he says was due to the negligence of the bank.
He argued that he had never registered for mobile banking which the fraudsters used to access his account.
According to Abelebele, all attempts to seek an explanation from the bank have been futile.
Charles who retired from the army in 2018 says that he was later recalled for a mission in Somalia in 2020 under the UPDF reserve Force.
A copy of bank statement on the client’s account indicates that on February 10th, Shs6m was withdrawn from the account. On February 12,25,26 and 27th shs1.8m, Shs2m and Shs2m were withdrawn from the account using an agent bank respectively.
The client however noted that he left the country for Somalia on December 16th 2020 and returned in the country on December, 2021 which made him unable to access his account for transactions.
Abelebele now wants court to declare the acts of authorizing the cash out of his money by Centenary Bank’s to third parties in the said period as illegal and order for an immediate refund of his money.
The bank through their lawyers of Muhumuza-Kiiza Advocates and Legal Consultants has however refuted the allegations made by the client.
This followed a June 16th directive by the Mengo Chief Magistrate Dorcus Zako, ordering the bank to file a defense over the suit. The bank says that the said withdrawals were initiated from Abelebele’s Mobile Phone.
