WHO IS FOOLING WHO? Inside Uganda Railways’ fraud tainted USD3 million insurance claim and the insurance industry’s judicial quest for regulator’s neutrality Three of some of Uganda’s leading insurance companies are at crossroads. On one part, they are fighting off what they say is a fraudulent claim of USD3,000,000 (UGX10.7 billion) by Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) but doing so has put them in the crosshairs of the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA), the industry regulator.

The dispute stems from a 1st July 2016 to 30th June 2017 performance bond worth USD3,000,000 the three companies made to Rift Valley Railways (RVR), then a concessionaire of URC’s assets. The bond was co-insured between Old Mutual Insurance Uganda Ltd (40 per cent); Sanlam General Insurance Uganda Ltd (30 per cent) and Britam Insurance Uganda Ltd (30 per cent).  It shall be remembered that URC entered into a concession agreement with Rift Valley Railways Uganda Ltd (RVRU) allowing the latter to run the operations of URC for twenty-five years effective 1st November 2006. As a condition, RVR had to…