Legislators\nhave attributed the increase in fraud on the mushrooming Ponzi and pyramid\nschemes, and the rise in cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\nwas after the State Minister of Finance, Hon David Bahati told Parliament\nsitting on 04 February 2020 that government has established an Expert National\nTask Force on Fourth industrial Revolution to explore the issue of\ncryptocurrencies and provide proposals on its application in Uganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\nTaskforce will also consider global trends with a focus on developments and\naspirations for Uganda and the East African region.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bahati\nsaid that advertisements will be placed in the newspapers discouraging Ugandans\nfrom investing in Ponzi and pyramid schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\nare also discussing with the Internal Affairs Ministry to ban such schemes. The\nchallenge is that operators of such schemes register as financial institutions\nbut when they get on the ground, their operations are different,\u201d Bahati said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nMinister admitted that Ponzi and pyramid schemes involve dishonest investors\ntaking advantage of innocent individuals by encouraging them to invest their\nsavings into ventures that have no underlying product with a promise of\nextraordinary returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\nhave continued to advise the public to desist from investing in\ncryptocurrencies since they are yet to be supervised and regulated in Uganda.\nWe have therefore, strongly encouraged the members of the public to do their\nbusiness transactions with only licensed financial institutions,\u201d Bahati added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nrevealed that the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs was in the\nprocess of amending the Penal Code Act to criminalise Ponzi and pyramid schemes\nand that the Uganda Registration Services Bureau will soon adopt clear\nguidelines to determine beneficial ownership of companies during registration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\nSecond Schedule of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2013 is also being amended to\ninclude virtual assets providers on the list of accountable persons,\u201d he said\nadding that, \u2018this will bring virtual assets service providers including\nproviders of cryptocurrencies to be brought under the purview of the Financial\nIntelligence Authority and will be required to adhere to reporting requirements\nunder the Act\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hon\nMwine Mpaka (NRM, Youth Western) who moved a motion in 2018 calling for a ban\non such schemes however, accused government of protecting those involved in the\nbusiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\nFinancial Intelligence Authority submitted a list of all companies involved in this\nfraudulent business and the Ministry of Finance knows them but they are quiet.\nI know of a bishop who is involved in this business and he is heavily guarded,\u201d\nhe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hon.\nJovah Kamateeka (NRM, Mitooma district) called for increased sensitisation of\nthe public about the dangers of investing in such schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\nneed to encourage our children to value hard work because some university\nstudents have also been duped. You do not put money into a computer and think\nyou will earn too much,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nSpeaker, Rebecca Kadaga questioned government\u2019s commitment towards banning such\nschemes saying that the issue has been raised severally but no action has been\ntaken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\nexpected government to update Parliament on progress made in disbanding\naccounts of such schemes and a ban on their operations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kadaga\ndirected government to update the House on the progress made on sensitizing the\npublic on the dangers of investing in Ponzi and pyramid schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cryptocurrency is a virtual currency in which encryption techniques, based on Block chain technology, are used to generate units of the virtual currency and verify the transfer of virtual funds. Cryptocurrency provides for its own authenticity, validity and usage terms and conditions.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
lt is a decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Legislators have attributed the increase in fraud on the mushrooming Ponzi and pyramid schemes, and the rise in cryptocurrency. This was after the State Minister of Finance, Hon David Bahati told Parliament sitting on 04 February 2020 that government has established an Expert National Task Force on Fourth industrial Revolution to explore the issue of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":6622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-13701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n