China to reject graft money
Aug 18, 2010
UGANDAN officials suspected of corruption will no longer have a safe haven for their money in China after an agreement was signed between the Chinese and Ugandan ombudsmen to attach and recall such ill-gotten wealth.
By Francis Kagolo
UGANDAN officials suspected of corruption will no longer have a safe haven for their money in China after an agreement was signed between the Chinese and Ugandan ombudsmen to attach and recall such ill-gotten wealth.
The Chinese government will alert the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) on suspicion that a Ugandan official has kept or invested proceeds of fraud there, according to the agreement signed by IGG Raphael Baku and the Chinese vice-minister of supervision, Wang Wei.
The signing of the agreement was done at the Fang Fang Restaurant in Kampala on Monday.
Under the agreement, China will also facilitate training of detectives to augment their investigative capacity to enable them collect the required evidence to convict corrupt officials. “We need to put resources in training to build enough capacity to detect money that has been embezzled and invested outside,†Baku said.
Other areas of cooperation will include exchanging staff annually to share experience and information on corruption cases within the two countries.
Baku said such agreements will also be signed with other countries.
“Many corrupt people don’t keep their assets within. They take them outside. We need to cooperate with other countries to be able to detect them,†Baku noted.
The Chinese minister described the move as an effort to help the Ugandan government serve the public better.
“Our colleagues in Uganda have done a lot to fight corruption. We hope to strengthen them,†Wei said.
China’s intervention comes amid reports of increasing corruption in the country. According to the 2007 African Peer Review Mechanism Report, Uganda loses $258.6m (about sh569b) annually through corruption. This amounts to about 10% of the annual budget.
Recently, US President Barack Obama asserted that his administration would start impounding money stolen by African officials and stored in America and other Western countries.
UGANDAN officials suspected of corruption will no longer have a safe haven for their money in China after an agreement was signed between the Chinese and Ugandan ombudsmen to attach and recall such ill-gotten wealth.
The Chinese government will alert the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) on suspicion that a Ugandan official has kept or invested proceeds of fraud there, according to the agreement signed by IGG Raphael Baku and the Chinese vice-minister of supervision, Wang Wei.
The signing of the agreement was done at the Fang Fang Restaurant in Kampala on Monday.
Under the agreement, China will also facilitate training of detectives to augment their investigative capacity to enable them collect the required evidence to convict corrupt officials. “We need to put resources in training to build enough capacity to detect money that has been embezzled and invested outside,†Baku said.
Other areas of cooperation will include exchanging staff annually to share experience and information on corruption cases within the two countries.
Baku said such agreements will also be signed with other countries.
“Many corrupt people don’t keep their assets within. They take them outside. We need to cooperate with other countries to be able to detect them,†Baku noted.
The Chinese minister described the move as an effort to help the Ugandan government serve the public better.
“Our colleagues in Uganda have done a lot to fight corruption. We hope to strengthen them,†Wei said.
China’s intervention comes amid reports of increasing corruption in the country. According to the 2007 African Peer Review Mechanism Report, Uganda loses $258.6m (about sh569b) annually through corruption. This amounts to about 10% of the annual budget.
Recently, US President Barack Obama asserted that his administration would start impounding money stolen by African officials and stored in America and other Western countries.