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Background

The Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA), is a government agency established by the Parliament of Uganda to monitor, investigate, and prevent money laundering in the country. It is also responsible for the enforcement of Uganda's anti-money laundering laws and the monitoring of all financial transactions inside the country's borders.

The parliamentary bill creating The Finance Intelligence Authority was passed in July 2013, after two previous attempts. Known as the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the law puts Uganda in harmony with its East African Community neighbors, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda, which passed similar laws before. The authority’s objective are; to enhance the identification of the proceeds of crime and the combating of money laundering, ensure compliance with this Act, enhance public awareness and understanding of matters related to money laundering, make information collected by it available to competent authorities and to facilitate the administration and enforcement of the laws of Uganda, as well as exchange information with similar bodies whose countries have treaties, agreements or arrangements with the Government of Uganda regarding money laundering and similar offences.

In July 2014, Ms Maria Kiwanuka, Uganda's then finance minister, appointed Mr Sydney Asubo, an experienced lawyer, to act as the interim executive director for six months while the agency's board of directors was being constituted.

During the financial year 2017/18, Cabinet expanded the mandate of FIA, by directing it to support MDAs to conduct financial/Integrity due diligence on private companies intending to partner with Government to implement infrastructure development on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework. The intention is to mitigate against partnering with foreign investors who may be potential fraudsters.