Kampala — Bank of Uganda is in the final process of enacting an anti-money laundering law aimed at addressing the anomaly creeping into the banking sector.

"The process of enacting an anti-money laundering law has already begun with the draft of an Anti-Money Laundering Bill having been discussed at the central bank level and shortly after be forwarded to the ministry of finance for review," David Opiokello, the deputy governor said on Friday.

He was closing the African Institute of Bankers conference at the central bank's gardens.

The bill aims at prohibiting and preventing money laundering, imposing certain duties on institutions and persons who might be used to the practice.

It also aims at making orders in relation to pro-ceeds of crimes and properties of offenders, provide for international cooperation in investigations, prosecution and other legal processes plus designating money laundering as an extraditable offence.

Opiokello said after going through all the necessary legal procedures, the law was likely to be ready by mid 2005.

He told bankers to continuously identify, measure, monitor, control and report fraud, forgeries and suspicious transactions to the central bank on a regular basis in order to preserve the reputation of the banking industry, which charged monetary safety.

He said bankers and other stakeholders on African continent should deliberately share experiences and come up with the way forward on the endemic problems of fraud and money laundering facing the financial sector today.