Financial Intelligence Authority says its probing Bagyenda

The head of the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA), Sydney Asubo has confirmed that the body is investigating the financial dealings of Justine Bagyenda, the former executive director Bank of Uganda in charge of supervision.

Asubo said that they are acting on a petition they received from a whistleblower to the effect that Bagyenda has more wealth disproportionate to her income.

"The information we have, we shall share it with other law enforcement agencies. We are still compiling information about the financial dealings of Bagyenda. We shall then have to verify it," Asubo said.

He added that if after verification there is evidence of any fraud, then further steps will be taken.

Asubo however cautioned that the verification process could take a long time.

Last month, a whistleblower petitioned the IGG claiming that Bagyenda has accumulated more than Shs 19 billion within a space of two years. The money, the whistleblower claimed has been put on bank accounts in various commercial banks.

The IGG has since opened investigations into the allegations while two banks, Diamond Trust Bank and Barclays Bank have since apologised over the leakage of Bagyenda's bank details.

The Financial Intelligence Authority was established under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2013 in order to combat money laundering activities.

Its four core duties are: to impose certain duties on institutions and other persons, businesses and professions who might be used for money laundering purposes; to make orders in relation to proceeds of crime and properties of offenders;to provide for international cooperation in investigations, prosecution and other legal processes of prohibiting and preventing money laundering and to designate money laundering as an extraditable offence; and to provide for other related matters.