Inside Job: Suspect in PostBank Shs 500 Million Counterfeit Arrested

Post Bank has said that its staff colluded and put fake currency in its branch in Mbale.

This week, the bank confirmed that its internal control mechanism had discovered counterfeit notes worth sh 500 million in the Mbale branch.

Bundles of counterfeit sh 50,000 notes were found on November 11 when a staff member took some from the vault to the counter, where doubts about their authenticity arose.

The bank escalated the matter to the police to help with the investigation.

In a statement, the bank has said that its staff were involved in the act, adding that they have been arrested.

“Initial investigations point to a collusion of the bank’s custodians of cash at the Mbale branch,” Post Bank’s brief statement reads in part.

“Uganda Police has arrested the implicated staff, and where there were lapses in oversight of the branch operations, the bank has suspended the responsible staff pending conclusion of the investigation,” the statement adds.

The bank said that all the culprits will face the law.

“All the steps that we are taking are in line with the bank’s policies and procedures, and the culprits will be brought to book according to the laws of Uganda.”

The fake currency was discovered just a few weeks after visits from bank officials from both the regional and head offices to the Mbale branch, during which the problem was not noticed.

The incident has raised concerns among the bank’s clients and the broader public about the risk that some depositors may have received counterfeit money during their withdrawals.

However, the bank treated the incident as an isolated case, adding that all the transactions are safe.

“This is an isolated incident, and we assure you that all transactions are safe, as the bank has in place all the required resources and technology to detect counterfeit, just like it was in this case where we detected this internally before any customer could be impacted. Integrity is critical to us, and because you are the reason we exist, we believe it is important to update you on the progress of the ongoing investigation in the most transparent way,” the Post Bank statement reads.

The bank said it is committed to maintaining the safety of all customers’ deposits and complying with all regulations as laid out by the Bank of Uganda and the Deposit Protection Fund.