Uganda advance

Uganda has set up an anti-money laundering body chaired by Edward Katimbo Mugwanya, Director of Supervision at the Bank of Uganda. The nine-man committee includes representatives from the Uganda Institute of Bankers, the state attorney’s office, the anti-narcotics police and the immigration, customs and Uganda Revenue authorities. Finance Minister Gerald Ssendaula, who inaugurated the new group, said that it would work to foster co-operation between law enforcement agencies both within and outside the country and to educate the public about the damage which money laundering facilitates through the transfer of funds derived from arms and drugs trafficking, prostitution, embezzlement and corruption. He said that the broad composition of the committee reflected the wide-ranging nature of the problem. It will be affiliated to the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (EASAAMLG) which was established in Tanzania in August 1999.