By Enyichukwu Enemanna
At least eight officials of Uganda’s Ministry of Finance have appeared in court over charges of corruption, electronic fraud, and money laundering from a hacking incident on the central bank’s systems, in which at least $21 million was reported stolen, court documents showed on Thursday.
According to the charges read to the defendants before a magistrate’s court in the capital, Kampala, the hacking, which involved redirecting some payments from their intended beneficiaries to different recipients, happened last year.
The East African country’s Minister of State for Finance, Henry Musasizi, had in November last year confirmed reports that the central bank’s accounts had been hacked and money stolen.
The charge sheet indicates that some of the stolen funds were meant for the International Development Association (IDA), an arm of the World Bank, as principal and interest repayments for loans received by Uganda. However, the payment was redirected to two companies in Japan and Poland, in which the accused persons have interests.
Some of the money was also illegally paid out from the central bank to a company in London, the charge sheet further stated.
The officials, who include the ministry’s top accountant, were charged with corruption, causing financial loss, electronic fraud, money laundering, and abuse of office for their various roles in the theft, the charge sheet showed.
It further revealed that one of the officials, an information technology officer at the ministry, “irregularly altered the payment instructions” for a part of the money that was supposed to go to IDA and instead redirected it to a company in Tokyo, Japan.
The top accountant, according to the charge sheet, “neglected to put in place effective systems to safeguard public funds, which resulted in a financial loss.”
The officials were remanded to prison until 18 February, when they will reappear for a mention of the case.
A bail application filed by Max Mutabingwa, counsel to one of the suspects, was denied.
