- Thread starter
- Staff
- #1
Dadparvar
Staff member
- Nov 11, 2016
- 9,058
- 0
- 6
A Ugandan court on Wednesday charged nine senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development over their alleged involvement in corruption, electronic fraud, and money laundering in connection with a hacking incident that led to a financial loss of at least $21 million from the country’s central bank.
The hacking occurred last year and involved redirecting some payments from its intended beneficiary to different recipients, according to the charges read in a magistrate’s court in the capital Kampala. Last November, State Minister for Finance Henry Musasizi confirmed the hacking of the central bank’s account and the Bank of Uganda said it was 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 police had detained finance ministry officials on February 5 as part of an investigation into accusations of hacking.
The chargesheet filed in magistrate court has a total of 11 charges against the accused out of which 5 charges are of corruption, two charges of financial loss, one for abuse of office, two for electronic fraud, and one for money laundering. All these charges were charges under the Anti-Corruption Act and The Computer Misuse Act.
According to the charge sheet funds intended for the International Development Association (IDA), a World Bank affiliate, as repayments for Uganda’s loans were illegally redirected to companies in Japan, Poland, and the UK. Court documents show that a $6.134 million debt servicing repayment to the World Bank was instead sent to Road Way Company in Japan, with the money landing in an account at MFUFG Bank on November 12 and $8.569 million intended for the African Development Bank was paid to NJS International in London on September 28.
The accused were the Accountant General in the Ministry of Finance, Lawrence Semakula, the acting director of Treasury Services and Asset Management, Jennifer Muhuruzi, a senior IT officer, Tonny Yawe, a systems IT officer, Paul Nkalubo Lumala, a senior accountant in the Treasury Services Department, Deborah Dorothy Kusiima, an accountant, Judith Ashaba, a research assistant, Bettina Nayebare, and an IT systems officer, Mark Kasiiku. The court has issued criminal summonses against Pedson Twesigomwe, the assistant commissioner after she failed to turn up in court. The group was not allowed to take a plea to the charge of money laundering as it is only triable by the High Court.
Lawyer Max Mutabingwa, who represented one of the suspects, attempted to apply for bail, but the suspects were denied bail and remanded in custody until February 18, when their case will be mentioned in the high court. Due to the severity of the offenses, which are only triable in the high court, they were not allowed to enter a plea. Authorities will continue to investigate the full extent of the breach and whether additional individuals were involved in the fraud.
The post Uganda court charges senior finance officials with corruption over central bank hacking appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.
The hacking occurred last year and involved redirecting some payments from its intended beneficiary to different recipients, according to the charges read in a magistrate’s court in the capital Kampala. Last November, State Minister for Finance Henry Musasizi confirmed the hacking of the central bank’s account and the Bank of Uganda said it was 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 police had detained finance ministry officials on February 5 as part of an investigation into accusations of hacking.
The chargesheet filed in magistrate court has a total of 11 charges against the accused out of which 5 charges are of corruption, two charges of financial loss, one for abuse of office, two for electronic fraud, and one for money laundering. All these charges were charges under the Anti-Corruption Act and The Computer Misuse Act.
According to the charge sheet funds intended for the International Development Association (IDA), a World Bank affiliate, as repayments for Uganda’s loans were illegally redirected to companies in Japan, Poland, and the UK. Court documents show that a $6.134 million debt servicing repayment to the World Bank was instead sent to Road Way Company in Japan, with the money landing in an account at MFUFG Bank on November 12 and $8.569 million intended for the African Development Bank was paid to NJS International in London on September 28.
The accused were the Accountant General in the Ministry of Finance, Lawrence Semakula, the acting director of Treasury Services and Asset Management, Jennifer Muhuruzi, a senior IT officer, Tonny Yawe, a systems IT officer, Paul Nkalubo Lumala, a senior accountant in the Treasury Services Department, Deborah Dorothy Kusiima, an accountant, Judith Ashaba, a research assistant, Bettina Nayebare, and an IT systems officer, Mark Kasiiku. The court has issued criminal summonses against Pedson Twesigomwe, the assistant commissioner after she failed to turn up in court. The group was not allowed to take a plea to the charge of money laundering as it is only triable by the High Court.
Lawyer Max Mutabingwa, who represented one of the suspects, attempted to apply for bail, but the suspects were denied bail and remanded in custody until February 18, when their case will be mentioned in the high court. Due to the severity of the offenses, which are only triable in the high court, they were not allowed to enter a plea. Authorities will continue to investigate the full extent of the breach and whether additional individuals were involved in the fraud.
The post Uganda court charges senior finance officials with corruption over central bank hacking appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.