from HASSAN ONYANGO in Kampala, Uganda
KAMPALA, (CAJ News) – THE American government has imposed sanctions on some Ugandan judges and lawyers for allegedly spearheading the illegal adoption of children by parents in the United States (US).
Judges Moses Mukiibi and Wilson Musalu Musene, lawyer Dorah Mirembe and her associate, Patrick Ecobu, have been slapped with financial sanctions and visa restrictions for their alleged involvement in the scam.
“Together, these individuals engaged in corruption to arrange the adoption of Ugandan children by unwitting parents in the US,” Michael Pompeo, US Secretary of State, said.
It is believed Mirembe’s law firm used the services of intermediary parties to seek out vulnerable families in remote Ugandan villages, promising parents that their children would be moved to Kampala to further their education.
It later emerged the American prospective adoptive parents then traveled to Uganda to adopt children from an unlicensed children’s home in Kampala.
Mirembe, with the alleged assistance of Ecobu, is accused of facilitating bribes to Ugandan judges and other Ugandan government officials to fraudulently procure adoption cases, either directly or through an interlocutor.
Pompeo said the sanctions demonstrated the US’ commitment to protecting the dignity of every human being and protecting the US from those who seek to profit at the expense of others.
“These individuals’ actions also resulted in the submission of false documentation to the Department of State for consideration in visa adjudication, a falsification the Department will not tolerate,” he said.
– CAJ News