The Bank of Uganda (BOU) has firmly clarified that recent heist did not result from hacking into its IT systems. Deputy Governor Michael Atingi-Ego addressed the issue during the December Monetary Policy Statement, that the fraud originated externally and not within the bank's systems.
Incident Details
Contrary to earlier reports alleging that offshore hackers accessed BOU systems to steal UGX 62 billion, Atingi-Ego explained that the fraud involved external instructions directing payments to unintended beneficiaries. Specifically, two transactions were affected:
Recovery Efforts
BOU has successfully recovered $8.205 million (UGX 30 billion) of the funds misdirected to London, with assistance from Citibank. However, efforts to recover the $391,000 balance from this transaction are ongoing. Unfortunately, no funds have been recovered from the Japanese recipient, as their bank, MUFG Bank, has reportedly been uncooperative.
Investigation Progress
Police investigations into the fraud are ongoing, with no BOU staff implicated so far. Atingi-Ego reiterated that BOU's role as a paying entity involves executing instructions received, but in these instances, the fraudulent directives came from outside the central bank.
