INTO BOU USD20M HEIST: General Museveni Helps to Recover USD8M as The Other USD12M Balance Is Swindled and Shared by His Own Mafioso

Exclusive Report: President Museveni`s self-assigned investigations team and the Police`s Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) detectives have successfully recovered part of the recently siphoned USD20,079,681.25M (UGX73,290,836,562.5) from Bank of Uganda via a well-coordinated work of hackers, The Investigator can authoritatively report.

We have ably established that at least USD8M of the hitherto lost USD20M (UGX73BN) have been recovered. The lost dimes, whose rightful beneficiaries were Uganda creditors, the International Development Association (IDA) with USD7,166,006.95, and African Development Bank (ADB) with USD12,913,674.3, were channeled through two segments.

The first batch belonging to IDA was channeled to United Kingdom, whereas that of ADB was diverted, supposedly by the hackers, to Japan! We have further established that whereas investigators have ably trailed the Uk` diverted funds and recovered the same, the bigger heist committed via Japan won’t be recovered. Reason? Read on…

Inner, credible sources have suggested to this mighty Investigator of how, the Japan loot have since been withdrawn and shared amongst the top heist masters, surprisingly, and interestingly, all reportedly big shots in Gen. Museveni`s government! That the General himself is closely following the case and even managed to recover a part, but proceed to lose the rest to his own, is in itself a pregnant suggestion that indeed, the center holds no more!

Scooping deeper, we gathered that the Japan loot was wired and shared from different countries, including Japan itself and South Africa. To appreciate that big money is made by equally big investment, you ought to learn that these white-collar mafioso had to fly business class to Japan and South Africa, with `official-laced` reasons, and at the expense of the taxpayer, just to go pick their share of dimes stolen from their own government, people!

Before walking you (readers) deeper into why the heist was orchestrated, by who and for which reasons (stories of another day), it is prudent to first ride back to when the alleged hacking was uncovered. At the end of these series, the reader should be armed with full knowledge of why the swindle committed close to two months ago, was released yesterday to mainstream media and misreported as having happened two weeks ago and, oh yes, with wrong figures!

The Preamble

Unrebuttably, this multi-million-dollar scandal left government creditors IDA and ADB unpaid, with the Ministry of Finance scrambling to trace how the funds supposedly disappeared. As the inquiry continue, reports are rife that authorities have labored to misdirect the blame to protect influential insiders, leaving whistleblowers in the line of fire in the process.

The scandal came to light on October 8^th 2024, when IDA communicated to the Ministry of Finance, specifically to the Assistant Commissioner in charge Treasury Service, detailing how their anticipated payment of USD6,134,137.75, due on September 15^th 2024, had not dropped in their accounts. The creditors sternly warned Country Uganda to get serious and have the money sent in ASAP and, deviate from absconding from their duty of paying debts on time. This counsel, to avoid the unnecessary fines that such behavior attracts.

To this end, the Ministry of Finance sent a formal inquiry to Bank of Uganda (BOU) on October 10^th 2024, seeking clarity on the payment. The funds, allocated from an IDA loan, were earmarked for debt payments managed by Treasury Operation, Vote 130, a portfolio overseen by the Commissioner Accounts, Jennifer Muhuruzi Bigirwa.

After two days, an alarming call from IDA came in again and sparked concerns that something had gone terribly wrong with the payment. Upon investigation, Assistant Commissioner for Quality Assurance, Pedison Twesigomwe, discovered that although the transaction appeared as routine, there were anomalies in the final destination of the funds.

Twesigomwe requested for the account statement from BOU, which, on the surface, seemed to confirm that the payment had gone through to the right account. However, a closer examination unveiled discrepancies, indicating that the payment had been redirected to two companies; one based in Japan and another in the United States, suggesting possible foul play.

With mounting evidence, the Ministry of Finance convened an extraordinary meeting, attended by high-profile officials, including BOU Deputy Governor Michael Atingi-Ego, Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi, and Accountant General Lawrence Ssemakula, to address the potential breach. The meeting agreed to commission an external forensic audit, ostensibly to be led by BOU itself. This was an unprecedented move, considering that BOU should also be under investigation.

The bank further proposed involving Interpol to assess the international scope of the crime. The unfolding investigation, however, took an unexpected turn when officials diverted attention toward the very people who exposed the irregularities. Twesigomwe, along with Senior Accountant Deborah Kasiima and Head of Accounts Mubarak Nassamba from the Ministry of Finance, were summoned by the Criminal Investigations Directorate at Kibuli to provide statements.

Sources close to the case suggest that the rapid targeting of these officials was an attempt to shift blame and shield those in positions of power. Questions were also raised over BOU’s choice to lead an investigation into its own financial systems, casting doubt on the bank’s ability to impartially audit itself.

With critical data breaches and evidence pointing to an intricate hacking scheme, critics feared the real perpetrators could be overlooked, while whistleblowers face undue scrutiny. Through our visual YouTube Channel (The Investigator TV), we questioned BOU`s suspicious developments in the matter. (Please view the show here… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_TJwhFk3YM&t=933s)

We authoritatively gather that upon our banging the table, followed by Accountant General`s physical visit on the CID Director Maj. Tom Magambo to seek clarification why his officers were summoned, CID dropped the idea. They instead summoned eight BOU staff members for statement recording, and the matter seem to have been laid to bed after that! However, sources further suggest that as his culture, President Museveni had unleashed his cybercrime investigators to, also give a shot at the case.

The combined efforts Gen. Museveni`s boys and police have since yielded some results, with at least USD8M getting recovered, but with the rest of the loot supposedly lost to the big shots involved in the real heist. Upon its conclusion, this developing story will raise serious concerns about accountability, cybersecurity, and the treatment of those who dare to uncover uncomfortable truths within Uganda’s financial hierarchy.

The nation now awaits the results of the audit and further action from law enforcement, all while hoping that justice will be served and those responsible held accountable. Here at the Investigator, our readers should expect a full coverage of what happened, who was involved and at what stage, who traveled to which country for their share and, oh yes, make a long pass right into the investigators` box. Watch the space…

Author Profile

Stanley Ndawula: Stanley Ndawula is a two and a half decades’ seasoned investigative journalist with a knack for serious crimes investigations and reporting. He’s the Founding Editorial Director and CEO at The Investigator Publications (U) Limited