The government of Uganda has admitted hacking of accounts of Bank of Uganda but has denied the reported loss of 62 billion Ugandan shillings.
An African news portal quoted the Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Henry Musasizi as saying “I wish to state that our accounts were hacked but not to the extent being reported.”
The minister told the Parliament that an audit and investigation were launched immediately after the hack was discovered.
“The Auditor General is conducting the audit, and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is also carrying out an investigation,” he said.
“Once the audit, now in its final stages, and the CID investigation are complete, I will return to this House and report,” he said.
Musasizi assured the Parliament that he will present a report of the findings a month’s time.
He added, ‘As of now, any matter I disclose on this issue will risk misrepresentation of facts.”
The Minister said that this in response to concerns voiced by Leader of the Opposition Joel Ssenyonyi.
Ssenyonyi sought an explanation as to why Uganda’s banking sector has become increasingly vulnerable to fraud.
“It alarmed me because this is our Central Bank. I thought government should help us understand; it is important that we know what exactly is happening,” Ssenyonyi said.
The Leader of the Opposition noted that several commercial banks have also reported similar fraud incidents over the past two months.
The Bank of Uganda is awaiting a police investigation into a news report that offshore hackers stole 62 billion Ugandan shillings ($16.8 million) from the central bank.
Uganda’s state-owned New Vision newspaper reported on Thursday that hackers, identifying themselves as “Waste,” reportedly accessed the Bank of Uganda’s IT systems.
These hackers then illicitly transferred the funds earlier this month.
The hacking group based in Southeast Asia, sent part of the stolen money to Japan, New Vision said, citing unnamed sources at the bank.
New Vision said the central bank had successfully recovered over half of the money from the hackers.
In response to the cyber attack, President Yoweri Museveni has ordered an investigation, it said.
Uganda’s biggest independent newspaper, Daily Monitor, reported that the theft may have involved collusion by insiders.
Cyber thefts from banks and other financial service providers, including telecom firms, have occurred many times in Uganda.
According to a report in the online Monitor, “security agencies are treating it as an ‘inside job’.
