The Uganda police have arrested nine Finance Ministry officials in connection with an investigation into the loss of 60 billion shillings ($16 million) from the central bank after the money was sent to unintended recipients, reported Bloomberg.
Officials from the Office of the Accountant General in the Finance Ministry were arrested in response to the Criminal Investigation Department summons to facilitate the probe, Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi said in a statement.
“Due to ongoing investigations relating to some operations at the Treasury, some officers attached to the Accountant General's Office (AGO) were summoned and detained by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to facilitate the conclusion of the investigations,” The Finance Ministry of Uganda said in a statement shared on X.
The arrested officials include Accountant General Lawrence Semakula, Kampala-based Daily Monitor newspaper reported on Wednesday.
In November 2024, reports emerged following the loss of more than 60 billion shillings after hackers breached the Treasury system.
Later, the Minister of State for Finance, Henry Musasizi, accepted that the hackers illegally gained access to the system, but the amount was less than reported, the Bloomberg report said, citing the Ugandan parliament.
In December, the Bank of Uganda claimed that it recovered nearly $14.7 million of the lost funds.
In January, the lawmakers in Uganda sent a forensic audit report to the CID for further investigation.
In 2024, debt-servicing funds were misrouted two times, according to a report by the Daily Monitor.
A payment of $6.134 million to the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA)-which provides concessional credit to the world's poorest countries, was redirected to a bank account in Tokyo-based private company, Roadway Company Ltd.
A payment of $8,596,824 for the African Development Bank's African Development Fund (AFD) was misrouted to a bank account in London for another private company, MJS International.
Nearly $6.134m was sent on September 10, and the $8.596m transaction was effected on September 26, the report said citing a highly confidential information systems audit report shared with the Bank of Uganda (BoU) Deputy Governor Michael Atingi-Ego.
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