Uganda is still susceptible to Money Laundering (ML) and Terrorism Financing (TF) despite having the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) in place, a new report has revealed.
The National Risk Assessment (NRA) of the Money Laundering (ML) and Terrorism Financing (TF) report says corruption-related proceeds are posing a high ML threat to Uganda.
“Despite a relatively solid legal framework, the establishment of the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) and good cooperation among AML stakeholders, Uganda’s vulnerability to ML remains, overall, high. The major factors behind it are the country’s low ML combating ability and the very high overall sectoral ML vulnerability,” the report reads in part.
According to a 2014 Report by the Inspectorate of Government, the estimated amount paid in bribes in 2013 was Shs165bn.
The 2014 nationwide survey on governance, undertaken in 2013, showed that at least eight of every ten Ugandans believe that corruption is a serious problem in the country.
Embezzlement and diversion of government funds are the main proceeds generating crimes with regard to corruption. Funds are embezzled or diverted to the personal interests of the offenders through outright theft, misallocation, diversion to a wrongful purpose of interest to the offender and other conducts
Fraud and tax crimes proceeds also pose a high ML threat to Uganda.
The 2015 Crime and Safety Report by Overseas Security Advisory Council on Uganda state that there has been an increase in financial fraud cases involving credit cards, personal checks, and counterfeiting.
The report adds that Uganda’s relevant Anti-Money Laundering (AML) agencies cooperate and coordinate domestically with each other to combat ML to a satisfactory level, but the absence of a risk- based AML/CFT policy might hinder the effectiveness of the AML framework.
“Apart from some technical deficiencies, Uganda’s AML/CFT legal framework is solid, but its implementation is not yet fully effective and commensurate to the ML risks identified by the NRA,” the report sats.
The National Risk Assessment (NRA) of the Money Laundering (ML) and Terrorism Financing (TF) risks was undertaken to analyze the ML threat to which Uganda is exposed and the major predicate offenses that generate larger amounts of criminal proceeds, and the level of the TF threat that the country faces.
