The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA), giving FIA authority to access data on Ugandans’ national IDs as one of the ways to fight financial crimes including money laundering.
The director of finance and administration at NIRA Agatha Mutenyo said that they decided to formalize the collaboration to enable each of the institutions execute its mandate.
She explained that as part of the deal, NIRA would hand over four electronic card readers to help the FIA verify information provided by people interacting with the body.
FIA Executive Director; Sydney Asubo said that the real-time verification of national identification data received using the card readers will enable the identification of all persons appearing before them.
Adding that the machines will greatly help in analyzing the information got while knowing the identity of people behind suspicious transactions.
“Identity goes beyond the name and date birth but also includes things like place of residence. Getting this information will greatly help us in fulfilling our mandate of fighting money laundering and terrorism financing,” he said.
The card readers have a system that reads all data contained on the national identity cards as well as a provision for thumbprints for verification.
Writer’s Note: Written with inputs from Nile Post.
