Report: Uganda theft sophisticated
It was “a very sophisticated well-thought-out fraud involving a high level of collusion at a senior level” of the Ugandan government.
The report was produced by a specialist audit team at the Department of Foreign Affairs after the fraud came to light in October.
Ireland suspended aid to Uganda after a probe by the country’s auditor general found €11.6m in aid from Dublin, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark had been fraudulently diverted into accounts under the control of the prime minister’s office. Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister, Eamon Gilmore, ordered a team to investigate, and its report was published yesterday.
The team found:
* The fraud was “conceived and carried out by personnel who had an intimate knowledge of systems in Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Office of the Prime Minister and Bank of Uganda.”
* All of the €11.6m, including Ireland’s €4m, was “fraudulently transferred from the legitimate bank accounts into which the donors had properly deposited the money to fraudulent dormant accounts outside of the government system”.
* The funds were “subsequently fraudulently withdrawn from these accounts” and there is “no possibility” that some of it might have been used for development purposes. “All of the €4m of Irish Aid funds are considered as misappropriated.”
* While the main players involved are identifiable and most have been suspended, “it is impossible to know who the ultimate beneficiaries of the funds were.
* Within Irish Aid’s systems, there had been “specific weaknesses” which “lessened the likelihood of earlier detection” of the fraud. The report recommended full recovery of the €4m be sought and that no further payments be made until more investigations are carried out.
Mr Gilmore said the Government had received “a written undertaking from the minister for finance in Uganda that the money is being paid back”.
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