Ugandans hold sh256b in Swiss accounts

By Samuel Sanya and Agencies 

THE International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a team of journalists from 45 countries has un-earthed 57 individuals associated with Uganda holding $89.3m (about sh256b) in the Swiss branch of British banking giant HSBC. 

The amount is three and a half times what Uganda expects in general budget support from donors this financial year. It is eight times the total money earned on the Uganda Securities Exchange in 2012. One of the 57 individuals holds as much as $8.8m (about sh25b). 

The Swiss Leaks data project unearthed secret bank accounts maintained for criminals, traffickers, tax dodgers, politicians and celebrities from 1988-2007. 

Currently an estimated one third of all worldwide funds held outside their country of origin or what are referred to as ‘offshore’ is kept in Switzerland due the county’s secrecy laws. 

In 2007, Swiss banks held as much $2.7 trillion (about sh7,251 trillion) or close to 500 times Uganda’s annual budget. 

Some of the funds are kept there by despots, mobsters, arms dealers, corrupt officials and tax cheats. 

The Swiss leaks data was made available by Hervé Falciani, a former HSBC employee-turned-whistleblower who turned information of almost 60,000 files that provide details on over 100,000 HSBC clients and their bank accounts to the French government in 2008. 

The files show that the accounts held more than $100b (sh287 trillion) in total. The confidential files also provide a wealth of other detail, such as secretive offshore companies linked to some accounts. 

Uganda is ranked 105 in a list of 203 countries with some countries having as much as $31.2b. As of 2008, there were 327 authorized banks and securities dealers in Switzerland, meaning Ugandans could be holding larger amounts of money abroad as of 2015.