Financial Intelligence Authority says terrorists use mobile money platform to fund activities

A recent report assessing Uganda’s vulnerability to terrorism financing and money laundering shows that the mobile money platform is one of the most preferred forms of money transfer since it’s not much regulated.

Sydney Asubo, the executive director of the financial intelligence authority (FIA) noted that some telecom companies permit transactions of up to Shs 7million in a day, which he believed is too much.

Since the 2010 bombings that left more than 80 people dead,  different financial institutions have tried to have become wary of financial transactions people make on their accounts.

A recent report by FIA shows that Uganda is still under threat of terrorism financing and money laundering.

"The country has porous borders with people entering and exiting without being thoroughly checked, that shows how unsafe we are," Asubo said.

He said there is need to check the mobile money wallet technology which has become the preferred informal banking financial system for many Ugandans.

He said that this is posing the highest risk to the country as telecom companies go as far as permitting transactions of more than Shs 7million per day on a sim card yet people can own more than one sim card which makes it easy to transfer dirty money.

The report also highlights that on top of dirty money being invested in the real estate sector and casinos, the large unregulated informal sector needs to be checked as people take advantage of the status quo to do financial crimes.