United States: fake Ugandan orphans offered for adoption

US authorities have dismantled a vast network between Uganda and the United States, specializing in the adoption of fake Ugandan orphans.

“Young children were taken from their Ugandan families against the promise of special education programs and studies in the United States, before being offered for adoption to American families”. In a statement released Monday, August 17, the US Treasury said US authorities had uncovered a "corrupt" network offering fake Ugandan orphans for adoption by US parents.

Some children were removed from "vulnerable families in remote Ugandan villages" by intermediaries ensuring that they would be entrusted to missionaries in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, during their schooling. American families awaiting adoption, unaware of these methods, then had to bring the children back to their country.

The Treasury , responsible for promoting economic prosperity and ensuring the financial security of the United States, announced financial sanctions against two Ugandan judges as well as a Ugandan lawyer and her husband, at the head of the network. They are henceforth undesirable on American territory, their possible economic resources in the United States will be blocked and access to the American financial system will be denied to them.

For its part, the American justice announced the indictment of the Ugandan lawyer but also of an American resident in the State of Texas, both presented as the brains of the network, whose members have pocketed more than 900,000 dollars, according to investigators.

NATIONAL SCOURGE

The lawyer and her husband allegedly paid bribes to judges and other Ugandan officials, and falsified documents for legal purposes or to obtain visas, according to US authorities. Federal Police Investigator Eric B. Smith said those charged "took advantage of the emotions of parents, those who wanted the best for their child, and those who wanted to give what they thought was an orphan a family." to love", such as the report "Le Figaro".

In 2015, the Ugandan Parliament protested against the "doubtful circumstances" in which "hundreds of children" left the country each year, while 80% of these so-called orphans have living relatives. This new scandal shows that five years later, the problem persists and that vigilance is still required.