The Ugandan Parliament has forwarded the Auditor-General’s report on the UShs 60bn (US $ 16.23mn) Bank of Uganda heist to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations “for further investigations.”
News reports emerged last November that the country’s bank was robbed in August, causing losses of more than 60 billion Ugandan Shillings.
The heist involved the diversion of payments, such as a US$ 6.134 million payment meant for the World Bank that was instead sent to a Tokyo-based company.
BOU, which had altercation with the Ministry of Finance over the heist and subsequent audit, has since said that it has recovered US$ 8.2 million of the stolen funds.
Director Anita Amon said: “Based on the content of the report, these breaches are criminal in nature and we will be sending a report to the Crime Branch for further action, as they are unlawful.
The decision to send the report to the Criminal Investigation Department angered some MPs who wanted the report to be examined in parliament. The truth came to light in the investigations conducted by the BOU Finance Department, which included an audit of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
According to the PwC investigation, in September, a second fund allocated to the African Development Bank’ was transferred to a London-based company. After the scandal broke in November, the government decided to investigate several institutions.
The BOU robbery and the difficult investigation revealed many weaknesses of today’s financial institutions and the technologies designed to ensure accountability and prevent fraud.
It was found that the security tools of the country’s central accounting system (IFMS) were technically inadequate to catch the thief in time. The disappearances were concealed for weeks after they occurred, making recovery efforts difficult once investigations began.
