By Elias Biryabarema
KAMPALA, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Uganda's parliament established a committee on Thursday to probe reports that three ministers took bribes from transactions in the country's nascent oil sector.
The committee will comprise seven legislators and is expected to report back its findings to the house within three months.
According to the motion establishing the committee, the committee will "investigate claims/allegations of bribery in the oil sector in Uganda made against Rt. Hon. Amama Mbabazi, Hon. Sam Kutesa and Hon. Hilary Onek."
Last year a 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks showed the then U.S. ambassador to Uganda, Jerry P. Lanier believed that Italian oil company Eni SPA <ENI.MI>, had bribed Mbabazi and Onek to favour Eni over British explorer Tullow Oil <TLW.L> in the sale of assets by another firm, Heritage Oil's <HOIL.L> assets.
Since then, Kutesa's name has also been connected with bribery allegations in papers presented to parliament by independent member of parliament Gerard Karuhanga.
Onek was the energy minister then, while Mbabazi served as the security minister, and is at present the prime minister. Kutesa was until early this month the foreign affairs minister before he resigned.
"I strongly welcome the probe and I will be glad to appear before the committee to testify if I am summoned. These are utterly false allegations," Onek said.
Kutesa and Mbabazi did not pick calls from Reuters but they have both in the past denied taking any bribes. Eni also denied the allegations when they surfaced in December last year.
Tullow, whose purchase of its former partner Heritage Oil's assets in the country took nearly a year to be endorsed, has since last year been awaiting final government approval of its proposed sale of stakes to France's Total <TOTF.PA> and China's CNOOC <0883.HK>.
The committee will also establish all the revenues received by the government from petroleum firms to date, how it was spent and how exploration firms operating in Uganda were procured.
The east African nation discovered hydrocarbon deposits in the Albertine rift basin along its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006 and production was expected to begin early next year.
Reserves in the entire basin are estimated to be as high as 6 billion barrels although only 2.5 billion barrels have been confirmed.
Uganda's energy ministry says it expects to send three petroleum bills to parliament by the end of the year as the meant to put laws in place quickly to regulate the oil sector before production begins.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by George Obulutsa and Andrew Callus)
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