Frozen Accounts: Action Aid to take legal action against Police
Reports emerged today that the Bank of Uganda has frozen bank accounts of some civil society
organisations, including Action Aid, after police lodged a formal complaint.
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According to a letter seen by The Nile Post, BOU accuses Action Aid of money laundering.
But officials from Action Aid have shot back, claiming they are being witch hunted because of their critical stand against some government policies.
They have threatened to seek legal redress if their accounts are not unfrozen.
“We will take a political action,if that fails, we will take a legal action against police. We are very sure it won’t find anything, we just don’t know why they are accusing us before investigating thoroughly with the Financial Intelligence Authority,” said Arthur Larok, the country director of Action Aid.
Because of Bank of Uganda's action, Larok said many activities at Action Aid, are at a standstill. The organisation's accounts in Standard Chartered bank.
According to close sources, Action Aid is one of the other 25 NGOs whose bank details have been sought by police.
The police has previously accused some civil society organisations of being used by foreign agencies to fund opposition groups.
But Larok said government just has a pessimistic view of NGOs, generally.
"Government just has a narrow understanding of our role in society, there’s need for to revisit the NGO act,” Larok said.
On 20th September, police raided offices of ActionAid and other NGO’s and confiscated their gadgets, documents before it cordoned off their premises.
