The Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development (General Duties), Hon. Henry Musasizi, has told Parliament that investigations are underway following the alleged hacking of Bank of Uganda (BOU) systems leading to loss of billions of shillings.
The media has over the past few days reported that the Central Bank’s network firewall was hacked a fortnight ago and over Shs62 billion stolen from the treasury account.
Musasizi said that the Auditor General and the Criminal Investigations Department of police (CID) are investigating the matter.
He admitted to the House chaired by Speaker Anita Among on Thursday, 28 November 2024, that the Central Bank systems had been breached.
“It is true that our account was hacked but not to the extent of what is being reported. To avoid misrepresentation of facts, when the audit and CID investigations are finalised, I beg that I come to this House and report,” he said.
Musasizi said that he will present a report of the findings a month’s time, adding that, ‘as of now, any matter I disclose on this issue will risk misrepresentation of facts’.
The minister’s brief statement was in response to the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi who demanded that government clarifies on the allegations.
“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,” he Ssenyonyi said.
He added that the incident is worrying since the Central Bank is vested with the function to formulate and implement monetary policy directed to the economic objective of achieving and marinating economic stability.
Hon. Ibrahim Ssemujju (FDC, Kira Municipality) faulted the Ministry of Finance for failing to present a statement immediately after the incident happened.
“What a responsible government does is to issue an interim statement disclosing what will not prejudice the investigation. A responsible government does not stand up in Parliament and say, ‘we are investigating, we will not tell you anything’,” he said.
It is reported that a group of hackers in Asia breached the Central Bank’s firewalls and withdrew the money which was then wired to accounts in the United Kingdom and Japan.