Uganda detains 9 finance ministry officials over central bank hack

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's police have detained nine finance ministry officials as part of an investigation into accusations of hacking the central bank's electronic systems that resulted in theft of 62 billion shillings ($16.87 million), the ministry and police said.

In November last year, State Minister for Finance Henry Musasizi confirmed reports in local media that the central bank's accounts had been hacked and money stolen.

Those detained include the senior most official of the ministry's Treasury department, the police and the finance ministry said.

Some officers attached to the accountant general's office at the ministry "were summoned and detained by the Criminal Investigations Department to facilitate conclusion of the investigations," the finance ministry said in a post on its X account late on Tuesday.

The ministry did not give the names of those detained or their number. Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke, however, told NTV television that nine officials had been detained and also read out their names that included the top Treasury official.

The official and the eight others arrested were not immediately reachable to comment.

State-owned New Vision newspaper had reported that hackers, identifying themselves as "Waste", accessed the Bank of Uganda's IT systems and illicitly transferred the funds.

($1 = 3,675.0000 Ugandan shillings)

(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by George Obulutsa and Kim Coghill)

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