The Ugandan government has admitted that Bank of Uganda accounts were hacked but denied reports of a loss of 62 billion Ugandan shillings..

An African news portal quoted the Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development as saying, “I want to state that our accounts were hacked but not to the extent that is being reported.”

The minister told Parliament that an audit and investigation was launched soon after the hack was discovered.

“The Auditor General is conducting the audit, and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is also investigating,” he said.

“Once the audit, now in its final stages, and the CID investigation is completed, I will come back to this House and report,” he said.

Museveni assured Parliament that he would present a report on the findings in a month.

He added, ‘As yet, any disclosure I make on this matter would risk misrepresentation of facts.

The Minister said this was done in response to concerns raised by the Leader of the Opposition, Joel Sinuni.

Ssenyonyi sought an explanation as to why Uganda’s banking sector has become increasingly prone to fraud.

“It worried me because this is our central bank. I thought the government should help us understand. It’s important that we know what’s actually going on,” Sinoni said.

The Leader of the Opposition noted that several commercial banks have also reported similar fraud incidents in the past two months.

The Bank of Uganda is awaiting a police investigation into reports that offshore hackers stole 62 billion Ugandan shillings ($16.8 million) from the central bank.

Uganda’s state-run New Vision newspaper reported on Thursday that hackers, who identify themselves as “waste”, have reportedly gained access to the Bank of Uganda’s IT systems.

Then the hackers illegally transferred the funds earlier this month.

New Vision, citing unnamed bank sources, said a hacking group based in Southeast Asia sent part of the stolen money to Japan.

New Vision said the central bank had successfully recovered more than half of the money from hackers.

In response to the cyber attack, President Yoweri Museveni has ordered an investigation, it said.

The Daily Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper, reported that insiders may have been involved in the theft.

Cyber ​​thefts from banks and other financial service providers, including telecom firms, have occurred several times in Uganda.

According to a report by Online Monitor, “Security agencies are treating this as an ‘inside job’.