The Bank of Uganda Deputy Governor Michael Atingi-Ego has revealed that they have so far recovered half of the money ($8.205 million or about Shs30 billion) and they are still investigating the balance.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Michael Atingi-Ego said that over Shs60 billion fraud originated from an external directive where they were instructed to pay the wrong beneficiaries and dismissed allegations that Central Bank staff were involved.
“Our systems are uncompromised and secure. The BoU systems were never hacked. Two incidents of fraud were initiated outside the BoU IT systems. Instructions were received by BoU to pay the wrong beneficiaries, leading to the diversion of funds,” he said.
“Nevertheless, we have since recovered $8.205 million of these funds and we are pursuing the balance. The ongoing investigation will support recovery efforts,” he added.
Dr Atingi-Ego said that the money in question was from two transactions, which were related to debt-service payments.
He said the payment transactions included a payment to the World Bank of $6.134 million, which was instead paid to a company called Roadway Company Limited through a bank in Japan called MUFG. And that was on the of September 12, 2024.
The second transaction was meant to be a payment to the African Development Fund of $8.596 million. It was instead paid to MJS International London in the UK on the September 28, 2024.
Bank of Uganda, he said, upon discovering that the payments had not reached the intended beneficiaries, that is, the World Bank and the African Development Fund, they commenced internal investigations and reported the matter to the relevant government agency.
“And that was the police, the criminal investigations directorate, and also the Financial Intelligence Authority,” he said.
“But beyond that, the Bank of Uganda took the necessary steps to recover these funds. That was really our key priority. So, we instructed our correspondent bank, that is Citibank, and the banks where the funds had been credited to the accounts of the fraudsters, instructing them to freeze the said funds due to the suspected fraud that is taking place. We have since recovered $8.205 million of the funds that had been sent to M.J.S. International London UK,” he said
The Deputy Governor said these funds have been credited back to the Uganda government consolidated fund account in Bank of Uganda.
“It’s not frozen like the media is speculating. And we are pursuing the balance of $391,000 that went to this bank in London through our correspondent bank, Citibank,” he said.
However, he said Bank of Uganda has not recovered the amount paid to Roadway Company through the MUFG Bank of Japan.
“This bank has not been very cooperative, that’s why we haven’t recovered this money. So, while they haven’t been cooperative, we are working hard with our domestic and international partners, particularly through their financial intelligence authority to pursue the recovery of these funds,” he explained.
“And we also expect the ongoing investigations to support our recovery efforts and help us understand the full extent of these fraudulent transactions. But more importantly, we are also cooperating with the Office of the Auditor General who are conducting their independent investigations,” he added.
