Museveni locked in intelligence fight

Cyber crime unit set up

And on Friday March 3, 2017, apparently, Bagyenda assembled a Network Operation Center – NOC for Cyber & Financial Crime Unit – the first ever of its kind in the 30 years of the existence of ISO.

Apparently, the unit comprises of transmission specialists, data analysts and profilers, telecom specialists, social engineering and media experts.

“With the changes in the way people communicate with one another, these experts are very essential,” the agent notes, “They will be able to look at the trends in social communication, topical issues affecting the masses, trending topics etc. This will help us understand the mood and mindset of the populous.”

The agent adds that this team will also be responsible for intrusion into emails and social media accounts of persons of interests if the need arises to analyse and profile any existing connections.

“This team is small and lean but with the agility, versatility plus expertise to fight this vice,” the agent noted.

Within 21 days since its activation, he added that the unit had already; identified a major back door in the ICT/Telecom Transmission infrastructure in Uganda through which communications on this platform are being transmitted to a foreign country, which he noted, leads to 98% of all government organisation and is a high security risk as regards information espionage.

He also claimed that the unit was closely involved in the investigations surrounding the Col. Dan Bwanakweri Scam, the shooting of AIGP Andrew Felix Kawesi.

He also said that the unit was involved in investigating of the March 3, 2017 unusual shutdown of all its branches of a bank.

After reading this report, President Museveni is said to have met the agent responsible. He asked him about the money transfers. Apparently, the agent told the President that he had dropped US$ 1.5 million in Mbarara, US$ 1 million in Masaka and another US$ 1.5 million in Mbale to coordinate rebel activity.

When the president probed further, the agent said he had given the money to someone at a motel in Mbarara. Agip is owned by Jim Muhwezi. But it seemed suspicious that an agent would just hand US$ 1.5 million to someone they did not know just like that.

Meanwhile, Governor Mutebile’s findings also arrived on April 7 as the President had ordered.

Mutebile wrote: “We have analysed the respective accounts and have not found any transactions for USD 20m for GAVI Funds and USD 18 m for Works in Progress account.”

Mutebile added that BoU does not maintain any “Works in Progress suspense account” or any such account for any ministry, department or agency.

The governor added that when they reviewed BoU foreign transactions records for the period in question, they established that, there was no information that the central bank has transacted any business with a counterparty by the names CIMB Bank in Malaysia or anywhere in the world. He also noted that BoU has not remitted any funds to a company named Pine-Herst Holdings and that in the months of January and February, there were no transactions of $20 m and $ 18 m from any BoU foreign accounts held abroad.

“In the same period,” Mutebile added, “nothing has come to our notice so far from our liquidity reports to show that such significant transactions took place between BoU and the local commercial banks.”

Insider sources say that apart from the raid at Finance, the interrogation of agents involved and the investigation by BoU, President Museveni also sent an investigator to Malaysia. This investigator too did not return with anything except the fact that around the same time, Tumukunde had also been to Malaysia.

When contacted about the allegations, Muhakanizi said that he did not  know what  is “informing these lies”.

“Those who are behind it know better,” Muhakanizi said in an interview, “But what I know is that this is a big failure on the part of the intelligence agency. We have heard excellent relations with these agencies. I do not think they have a problem with me, may be this was dumped on them, my problem is that they didn’t process it.”

Muhakanizi also said that since he became Secretary to the Treasury, government has not lost any money in treasury transactions.

“None,” he said, “As you know we have carried out a number of reforms since 2012, we closed all those multiple accounts and now operate a Single Treasury Account. There has been some attempts to hack the system but these have been identified and countered by our staff.”

He said that he suspects whoever is behind all this is a person who knows him and the others implicated well.

“I do not know what is driving all these conspiratory lies,” Muhakanizi said, “I would be happy if all these stories could be professionally and independently investigated.”

On his part, businessman Bob Kabonero, also rubbished the reports as fake. “Of course I am not involved at all in all that,” Kabonero said, “those are fake reports. I am not even privy to them at all and I am really surprised that someone can come up with such fabrications. What is the motive?”

Former, Information Minister, Jim Muhwezi, also admitted to have got wind of the reports.

“It is absolute rubbish,” he said, “There is no intelligence at all. Even the idea of carrying such monies around is rubbish. I have never met the people who claim I gave them the money. The real question is, what is the motive of the people behind this?”

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