9 finance ministry officials sent to High Court over Shs60bn payment system fraud

The Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala has committed former Accountant General Lawrence Ssemakula and eight other officials to the High Court to face trial over fresh corruption charges involving about Shs60 billion.

The decision follows additional charges filed on March 4, 2026, by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) against Ssemakula, Commissioner of Treasury Services Jennifer Muhuruzi and seven other officials from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

Prosecutors told the court that investigations into the case are complete and asked for the accused to be sent to the High Court for trial. Chief State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka led the prosecution before Chief Magistrate Peter Fred Lochomin.

Those committed include Ssemakula, who served as acting director of treasury services and asset management; Muhuruzi; Paul Nkalubo Lumala, a systems IT officer; Deborah Dorothy Kusiima, a senior accountant; Judith Ashaba, an accountant; Bettina Nayebare, a research assistant; Mark Kasiiku, an IT systems officer; Tonny Yawe, an IT senior officer; and Pedison Twesigomwe, assistant commissioner for accounts in the ministry.

The group was first charged in 2024 with 11 offences related to corruption, abuse of office and causing financial loss.

On Tuesday, prosecutors added eight more charges, including money laundering and electronic fraud, raising the total to 19.

According to the indictment, the charges arise from the alleged failure by the officials to protect government funds.

Prosecutors say weak controls in the Accountant General’s office and the treasury services department allowed billions of shillings to be lost.

The prosecution says the fraud involved payments meant for Uganda’s international lenders.

These include the International Development Association of the World Bank and the African Development Fund of the African Development Bank.

Court documents show that on September 12 and September 30, 2024, payments worth more than $14 million were redirected to foreign companies instead of the intended lenders.

The money allegedly went to Roadway Company Limited in Tokyo, Japan, and MJS International in London.

Investigators say payment files created through the Integrated Financial Management System were illegally changed before they were encrypted and sent to the Bank of Uganda.

They allege that special computer scripts were inserted into the system to change payment details from the real beneficiaries to foreign companies.

Prosecutors say forensic IT reports show that high-level administrator access was used to alter the files.

Investigators also claim that emails sent by the Bank of Uganda for payment reconciliation were intercepted and changed to hide the fraud.

They further say server logs were deleted to erase evidence and false reconciliation reports were created.

In another incident, prosecutors say an attempt to divert more than $6.6 million to a company in Poland was blocked by the SWIFT payment system after the World Bank complained about a missed loan repayment.

The DPP alleges that despite receiving an internal report from the Bank of Uganda pointing to irregularities, Ssemakula and Muhuruzi failed to take corrective action. Prosecutors say this allowed further fraudulent payments to occur.

Investigations show that the Bank of Uganda later recovered more than $8.2 million from one of the transfers made to MJS International.

However, more than $6.1 million allegedly sent to the Japanese company and another $391,720 remain missing.

Earlier investigations by police found that money disappeared from the Bank of Uganda in September 2024 and was transferred to foreign accounts in the United Kingdom and parts of Asia.

The Criminal Investigations Directorate, working with Defence Intelligence and Security, questioned several officials from the central bank, the finance ministry and the Accountant General’s office.

The case was first thought to be a cyberattack by hackers. However, ICT experts from CID later concluded that it was not an external breach but a carefully planned internal payment fraud.

Following those findings, President Yoweri Museveni directed Defence Intelligence and Security to join the investigation.

By the end of 2024, at least 21 staff members from the Bank of Uganda, the ministry of finance and the Accountant General’s office had been questioned. Investigators also seized mobile phones and laptops for forensic analysis.

Investigations later showed that more than half of the Shs60 billion had been recovered through cooperation with banks in the United Kingdom. However, authorities failed to recover funds transferred to accounts in Asia.

Investigators are now examining claims that some of the money may have been withdrawn abroad and secretly returned to beneficiaries in Uganda through cash or goods purchased on their behalf.