Eight Finance Ministry Officials have been charged over $21 million Central Bank hacking incident.
NaijaOnPoint Nigeriareports that eight officials from Uganda’s Ministry of Finance have been charged with corruption, electronic fraud, and money laundering in connection with a hacking incident that led to the loss of at least $21 million from the country’s central bank.
According to court documents, the charges were read in a magistrate’s court in Kampala late on Thursday.
The hacking, which occurred last year, involved the redirection of payments meant for intended beneficiaries to different recipients.
In November, State Minister for Finance Henry Musasizi confirmed reports that the central bank’s accounts had been hacked and money stolen.
According to the charge sheet, some of the stolen funds were intended for the International Development Association (IDA), a World Bank affiliate, as repayments for Uganda’s loans but were instead sent to two companies in Japan and Poland.
Additionally, other funds were illegally paid out to a company in London.
Among those charged is the ministry’s top accountant, who, according to the charge sheet, “neglected to put in place effective systems to safeguard public funds which resulted into a financial loss.”
An information technology officer allegedly “irregularly altered the payment instructions” for a portion of the funds meant for IDA and redirected them to a company in Tokyo, Japan.
The officials face charges of corruption, causing financial loss, electronic fraud, money laundering, and abuse of office.
Due to the severity of the offences, which are only triable in the high court, they were not allowed to enter a plea.
The court remanded them to prison until February 18, when they will reappear for a mention of their case.
Lawyer Max Mutabingwa, who represented one of the suspects, attempted to apply for bail, but his request was denied.