INVESTOR SABOTAGE! DFCU bank on spot for freezing diaspora investor’s accounts after refusing to bribe top officials

Dennis Daniel Ssemugenyi left Uganda many years ago to seek greener pastures and his country of destination was Canada.

He got a breakthrough ten years ago when together with European friends founded Dennis Daniel Investment Group (DDIGL).

On its website, the company says to have been at the heart of the development and growth for more than 600 successful companies worldwide “by enabling entrepreneurs to access capital at minimal costs, allocating bankable assets and resources to generate a steady market demand.

The company reportedly offers an investment portfolio suitable for international investors to achieve capital growth through a vast range of business ventures including; Ownership rights in Real Estate, Mineral Exploration, Oil & Gas, Tender Subscriptions and Syndication, Quarry Mines, Manufacturing Agriculture and Agro-processing, and Road Construction & Infrastructure Developments.

And as we speak today, the company has branches in Canada, UK, US, Singapore, UAE, Mauritius and Uganda.

For all this time, Ssemugenyi has been sending back to his country some of the proceeds from his company where he serves as the group chairman, to support various projects in Uganda and not limited to over 1000 needy kids in terms of school fees, feeding, shelter and clothing.

OPENS ACCOUNTS IN DFCU BANK

In 2018 Ssemugenyi was compelled to open bank accounts in Uganda to easily facilitate those he cared for in terms of school fees and other needs.

Secondly, Ssemugenyi’s Dennis Daniel Investment Group (DDIGL) picked interest in being part of Uganda’s development agenda by supporting and financing some of the infrastructural projects here.

They include Uganda’s electricity sector ( Umeme buyout) , Kampala-Jinja Express Highway, national roads including the Kampala Outer Beltway (Κ.Ο.Β.), Kyabakuza- Kiwangala-Lwamagwa-Isingiro, Kyabakuza, Matete-Kaliro, Sembabule-Matete Mbirizi, among other infrastructures across the country. It was therefore necessary to open local bank accounts to facilitate his various business interests and philanthropy activities in Uganda.

With this vision, Ssemugenyi proceeded to open diaspora bank accounts in DFCU bank—in shillings, euros and dollars—individually and in company names (Dennis Daniel Investment Group). He did all this through his lawyers in Uganda and those he gave powers of Attorney.

GETS MORTGAGE LOAN

Information obtained indicates that in 2020, Ssemugenyi applied for a mortgage loan from DFCU Bank totaling to sh226mln through his lawyers for a three bedroom condominium apartment in Naalya, a Kampala suburb. He wanted to quickly settle in his then Australian based relative but the developer needed quick cash.

He staked two properties in Private Mailo Busiro Block 411 Plot 744 Sala-Sisa vide instrument number WBU 00259213 dated 05th March, 2020 and Mailo Block 221 Plot 2471:87 Unit No. 87 Condominium Plan. WAK000022 Kyadondo Wakiso vide instrument number WKY- 00258948.

He was reportedly supposed to pay back in 13 years.

However, two years later, DFCU started demanding him menacingly to clear this mortgage loan to zero balance.

Yet by 2023, DFCU had collected over sh112mln from his account for this loan repayment.

On August 28, 2023, DFCU threatened through a notice to sell his mortgaged property to recover more sh300.8mln from him.

Ssemugenyi, without any option, hunted for the money and cleared his mortgage loan.

DFCU SABOTAGE GAMES BEGIN

No sooner had Ssemugenyi cleared his mortgage loan than when troubles with DFCU began.

Curiously, whereas this loan was cleared in a two and a half year period instead of 13, the bank was reluctant to hand over back his property titles and up-to-date he is yet to get them.

DFCU denies this, though, insisting that Ssemugenyi has never formally requested for them.

However, Ssemugenyi questions DFCU’s honesty.

He says the excuse given to him by DFCU for holding onto his property titles was that they required his physical presence and as well his original National Identity card.

Ironically, when he was applying for the same mortgage, DFCU neither required his physical presence nor identity card.

All this was done by his lawyers and those he gave powers of Attorney.

Ssemugenyi says he first suspected something was fishy when DFCU put this condition.

“For Your Information (FYI) this bank gave me a mortgage exceeding sh225 million when they had never physically seen me. I have been their diaspora client, and they used to ship bank documents to me via DHL, which I could sign and consign back to them. They provided the loan after verifying my financial capacity to repay it. It was a 13-year mortgage, which I fully paid within 2 and half years, and they still hold custody of my property titles,” Ssemugenyi told this publication.

Unaware of the grand scheme of things and what lay ahead, Ssemugenyi reportedly played it cool because he hoped to travel to Uganda any time soon to discuss prospective government projects financing at the invitation of the Government of Uganda (GoU) through the office of the Permanent Secretary/Secretary to the Treasury (PSST) Ramathan Ggoobi (invitation letter is dated June 26, 2024) and that of Senior Presidential Advisor Diaspora Affairs, Amb Abbey Walusimbi ( in a letter dated June 20th, 2024).

He even went on to order vehicles with enhanced security features for his company’s other shareholders for their safety while in Uganda to discuss GoU projects’ financing prospects.

Another signal that there was something fishy was when DFCU started imposing payment restrictions and eventually occasioned red flags on his accounts citing over-the-limit transactions which was not the case before.

BANK ACCOUNTS FROZEN

Ssemugenyi was however hit hard and his suspicions confirmed in July this year when DFCU informed him that his accounts had been frozen; curiously after clearing his mortgage loan.

The bank then said that some of the reasons why these accounts were red flagged and frozen was a mandate for any Ugandan seeking banking services to present a national ID. That a Ugandan passport alone was no longer considered a valid document for any Ugandan to access bank services.

DFCU also said that the accounts had in the past 3-4 months received more than USD 2 million, which exceeds the limit transactional threshold for these types of accounts.

He was further told that the increasing volume of large incoming wires in USD, according to the bank officers, warranted flagging and blocking access to funds in the accounts to combat money laundering and terrorism!

Ssemugenyi however insists DFCU is not being honest.

“Surprisingly, company [(Daniel Dennis Investment Group (SMC) Limited)] accounts are also affected, which renders their claims of freezing accounts due to my lack of a national ID invalid because accounts were opened after we provided satisfactory company legal documentation.

Any other hidden reason for locking access to our funds and accounts does not stand any ground in absence of a court injunction,” he says.

Despite the freeze, the bank continued reportedly to debit funds from his account without his consent.

“DFCU has been dealing with criminals and selling information on my accounts to third parties and thugs.

They have caused me losses amounting to over sh750 mln. You send money to beneficiaries, the bank deducts the monies but after a while the intended beneficiary returns with a claim that they did not receive the money yet DFCU debited accounts and did not deliver the money! The funds are never returned to the accounts and remain as funds sent out and debited! When you ask for tracking references and reports, they decline to answer,” he stressed.

Ssemugenyi also suspects that DFCU is in cohorts with some mafia who are hell-bent on frustrating his business interests in Uganda especially after his company expressed interest in financing some government projects.

The same mafia insists that in order for Ssemugenyi’s company to participate in any government project, they have to part with some monies $20,000 or sh70mln from each transaction he receives through DFCU bank.

The managers and compliance team in the bank reportedly privately started contacting him asking for a bribe in order to unlock his accounts or else label him a money launderer and formulate reports about him to the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA).

Ssemugenyi says his only crime is sending money from his bank accounts in Canada to his bank accounts in Uganda held at DFCU Bank.

The fact is that his company- Dennis Daniel Investment Group (DDIGL) deals with clients across the globe and some of the monies to facilitate business continuity passed through accounts in DFCU.

However, DFCU fraudsters now demanded shs70mln on every transaction through his account if they were to unfreeze his accounts.

He also further accuses DFCU of exposing his account details to third parties, who in turn also started soliciting bribes to clear his accounts.

His conscience was clear and he refused to be part of these underhand dealings.

But in doing so, he is paying the ultimate price and many needy kids in Uganda whose source of livelihood has been passing through these frozen bank accounts are now stranded on top of his other business ventures suffering a setback.

“I hold personal and company bank accounts at DFCU Bank that have recently been red-flagged and rendered inoperative, causing significant disruptions to our financial transactions and planned financing to government projects.

“We are unable to pay workers, service providers, and execute business contract obligations in a timely manner because of these disturbances.

Recently, we have had to halt importation of a Pet Injection Moulding Machine from India for a factory we are setting up in Semuto-Nakaseke and other equipment from China for silos for an agro-processing plant in Busiika, Zirobwe Luwero District.

“As if that were not enough, we run a scholarship program that sponsors hundreds of Ugandan children by paying full-year tuition with requirements coverage at primary, secondary, and tertiary/university levels of education throughout the country. This program is being suffocated by the blockade on our accounts.”

ISO, GEN.SALEH PETITIONED

Ssemugenyi at some point involved the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and was promised to have the issue looked into.

The third parties who got access to his account details at some point told him that his issue could only be solved by Gen. Salim Saleh.

Ssemugenyi wrote to Gen. Saleh on August 14, 2024 over the same matter.

In his letter, he told Gen. Saleh how DFCU’s actions tantamount to economic sabotage.

“It’s unsettling to imagine how a Ugandan bank stops money from coming into the country and chooses to flag accounts of patriotic Ugandans like myself whose passion and interest is to build factories, enhance education and infrastructure development in the country.

Instead of supporting us, the bank is rather standing in the way of road construction, electricity distribution, and stopping the progressive efforts of His Excellency President Museveni to free Ugandans from poverty and economic slavery through the integration of empowerment and industrialization.

The aforementioned actions by DFCU Bank tantamount to economic sabotage.”

He added: “These restrictions deter us from operating efficiently and stifle meaningful economic development. In light of the issues explained above, we request your swift intervention to cause the bank to free our accounts of any restrictions, red flags, and daily transaction limits in order to allow progression of our company activities and fast-tracking of the relevant government projects referenced herewith.”

When Ssemugenyi reportedly refused to yield to bribe demands, DFCU fraudsters reportedly demanded that he produce contract agreements for the monies and earnings that passed through his accounts in Uganda.

PETITIONS FIA

Ssemugenyi, sensing DFCU fraudsters’ games, wrote to the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) inquiring whether there was any sort of investigation regarding his accounts.

This was through a letter dated August 23, directly to Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) boss Samuel Were Wandera to look into his matter.

In reply, through a letter dated September 3rd, 2024, FIA requested Ssemugenyi to produce certain details to enable address his concerns with DFCU.

FIA requested Ssemugenyi to produce copies of all relevant contracts or agreements related to the transactions and projects in question; physical addresses of the projects and business ventures being undertaken; documentation supporting the sources of the funds deposited into his accounts and any other information that he could deem relevant.

Ssemugenyi furnished all the details.

This publication has learnt that FIA’s response has left DFCU in a spot of bother and the bank has now made a u-turn on why it froze Ssemugenyi’s accounts by rushing to fraudulently obtain a court order based on falsified information not related to the reasons they first gave for the accounts freeze.

The details will be in our subsequent publication.

DFCU SPEAKS OUT

This publication asked DFCU for a comment on why Ssemugenyi’s accounts were frozen.

Helena Mayanja, Head, Corporate Affairs & Public Relations DFCU Bank sent to this publication a holding statement from management and reads thus:

“dfcu Bank acknowledges awareness of the ongoing court case involving the customer in question and a third party. In compliance with a court order pertaining to this case, dfcu Bank has taken action to block access to the customer’s accounts. This decision follows the legal requirements set forth in the court order issued on 5th September 2024.

We are committed to upholding our legal obligations and maintaining the integrity of our operations and to this end, we have taken this action to ensure adherence to the law and to protect the interests of all parties involved.

During this time, we will provide our customer with the information and any guidance they might require, to the extent permitted by the law and/ or other regulatory bodies.

Due to the legal nature of this matter, we are unable to provide specific comments currently. dfcu Bank is committed to upholding the ruling of the court and will continue to act in full compliance with legal requirements.”

However, the explanation for the accounts’ freeze is now different from those that were initially given to Ssemugenyi further confirming the client’s suspicions of intending to defraud him on top of sharing his private information with third-party thugs.