East African Business Week

Bank of Uganda has dismissed allegations that Ush1.16 trillion ($449,424,960) of capital gains tax money paid to the Uganda government by Tullow Oil Plc has disappeared off the account at the central bank.
In a statement issued on October 19 by BoU management, the shilling balance, which was converted from US$ 449,424,960 to Ush1,161,736,556,120 on July 2, 2011 on the Oil Revenue Account in BoU is unchanged to this day.
Allegations were made by legislators in Parliament during the oil sector debate two weeks ago that the oil related revenues received by BoU on behalf of Government were irregularly removed for two weeks.
 In the statement, BoU said three separate payments amounting to $449,425,000 were received on BoU's correspondent account in New York.
"These funds, which are all in US dollars, have never left the BoU correspondent account since the day they were deposited, and they remain to this day on that account," the statement reads in part. "The only changes which have occurred relate to the accounting treatment of these resources in the books of BoU."
BoU, which holds many different accounts on behalf of Government, which together form the Consolidated Fund of the Government, gave a chronology of the receipts and how they were recorded under government accounts in BoU books of account.
According to the statement, on August 04, 2010, BoU received a SWIFT message confirming receipt of US$ 121,477,500 on BoU's foreign correspondent bank account in New York. On the same date BoU credited the URA tax collection account with the said amount of US$121,477,500.
On April 7, 2011, BoU received a SWIFT message from our correspondent bank advising receipt of funds in the amount of US$313,447,500.00 from Tullow Oil Plc. BoU then credited the URA tax collection account with that amount on the same day.
The two transfers of capital gains tax amount to US$434,925,000. BoU charged an administration fee of only US$20 leaving a net balance of US$434,924,980. On April 11, 2011, BoU received notification of a receipt of an additional amount of US$ 14,500,000 being stamp duty paid by Tullow Oil Plc for the account of URA.
BoU charged an administration fee of US$20 leaving a net amount of US$14,499,980. This amount was credited to the URA Tax Collection Account on the same day.
The net accumulated capital gains tax and stamp duty amount to US$449,424,960.
On July 6, 2011, the accountant general (Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development) instructed Bank of Uganda to transfer a total of US$ 449,424,960 from URA's tax collection account No. 003410158400000 to Government of Uganda Oil Revenue USD account No. 003300328400001.
This account is part of the Government of Uganda Consolidated Fund. On July 7, 2011, one day following the instruction by the accountant general, US$ 449,424,960 was transferred to the Government of Uganda Oil Revenue Account as a dedicated fund and accounted for separately as part of Government Consolidated Fund.
As a result, the balance on the URA tax collection account fell to a nil balance, whereas the Uganda Oil Revenue Account had a balance of $449,424,960. On July 21, 2011, two weeks after the funds had been transferred to the Government Oil Revenue Account, the Government exchanged US dollars for Ugandan Shillings.
As a result, the Government account was credited with the Shilling equivalent of US$ 449,424,960, which is Ush1,161,736,556,120. The shilling balance on the Oil Revenue Account in BoU is unchanged to this day.