Deputy governor of Bank of Uganda, Dr Michael Atingi-Ego. Photo | File
The central bank deputy governor has told a House committee that a breach on the computer automated systems of his office and that of officials in the Finance ministry saw Uganda’s lender of last resort lose Shs50 billion.
Dr Michael Atingi-Ego yesterday told the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (Cosase) that the money was only released by an automated computer system after the process was initiated and okayed by unnamed officials at the Finance ministry.
“The system automatically pays in two days, and that’s how the international transactions are conducted. And then beyond that, there’s also what we call the confirmation and the reconciliation,” Dr Atingi-Ego told the committee.
He added: “After we’ve done the payments, we generate all the payments that have been made. And then this is sent back to the Minister of Finance that these are the payments that we’ve made on this day for your purposes and for your reconciliation. So the Minister of Finance receives these things on a daily basis.”
The central bank deputy governor further stated that the automated system then releases “daily statements for purposes of reconciliation” in a “straightthrough processing” that’s devoid of “human involvement.” The claim of no human involvement received pushback from Mr Medard Ssegona, the Cosase chairperson.
“There must be human intervention at the end of the day. Because, you see, let me tell you, you will never explain and convince me that I should arrest the computer in the Bank of Uganda. If I am to arrest, I will arrest you. You lead me to the right person. He leads me to the right person. Until I get the person who actually does the verification. The computer doesn’t do the verification,” Mr Ssegona said.
He added: “There must be that particular person who looks, opens his compuer, and says, ‘oh, how about this?’ You cannot leave it to the computer. Then when
you send the other side for verification, there is another person who sits behind his or her computer and does the verification.”
After some back-and-forth, it was disclosed that the automated system at the central bank is superintended over by Mr Jacob Opolot. The Bank of Uganda (BoU) official is expected to appear before the committee for questioning today. The central bank has also been instructed to furnish Cosase with copies of communication exchanges between BoU and the Ministry of Finance.
On November 28, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), tasked the government to explain circumstances under which billions of taxpayers’ money was lost from BoU.
In response to the LoP, Mr Henry Musasizi, the junior Finance minister, admitted to the hack but hastened to add that the money lost was not “the extent of what is being reported.”
Minister Musasizi said in the aftermath of the hack, “we instituted an audit and at the same time an investigation.” He also disclosed that “the Auditor General is doing the audit and CID at the same time is doing an investigation.”
Legislators in the same plenary sitting that was steered by Speaker Anita Among were told they could not debate the matter since it was already under investigation.
“Let’s wait for the investigations and then will handle it that way. But we [Parliament] want to thank you for bringing it up and the minister has clarified that it is correct. One month is okay. There are two institutions that are investigating
this issue,” Speaker Among said.She added: “There is the Auditor General and CID. So we cannot discuss what is being investigated already. It is good that we have the information, in one month’s time when we come back, we shall be able to ask the minister to give us feedback.”
