Money Laundering A Major Concern For The UAE

Money laundering has become a major global concern and the UAE has many all efforts to combat this threat. With this in mind, the UAE has started the fight by getting hold of all related assets to this crime. The UAE Central Bank governor Mubarak Al Mansouri on Tuesday stated that all assets suspected to be part of the crime have been confiscated.Money laundering is a crime in the UAE by the Federal Law no 4 of 2002 hence all measures have been put in place to counter any form of money laundering, Al Mansouri stated in an event held in Abu Dhabi.

Money laundering is a crime in the UAE by the Federal Law No. 4 of 2002 hence all measures have been put in place to counter any form of money laundering, Al Mansouri stated in an event held in Abu Dhabi.He went on saying “more recently, the law has been redefined to take measures for identifying, freezing and confiscating the relevant assets that are suspected to be part of the crime either national or global.”

He went on to say that“more recently, the law has been redefined to take measures for identifying, freezing and confiscating the relevant assets that are suspected to be part of the crime either national or global.”

Nonetheless, measures have been put in place by the Anti- Money Laundering and Suspicious Cases Unit at the central bank to keep track of all money laundering activities. In addition, 43 counterpart Financial Intelligence units have been established and more units are on the way.

In the midst of this global threat, terrorist activities are on the increase, probing governments of various nations to find ways to counter any possible funding of these terrorist groups.

An example was set by the UAE earlier this year as an exchange firm Al Zarooni was denied license for its firm as a result of a violation, by the firm, of the anti-money laundering policy.

Although much effort is being put into combating this crime, the central bank has its constraints in tracking down this criminal activity as it becomes harder to track financial assets when their statuses are changed, for instance, into solid properties and other unforeseen assets.

The bank governor went on to explain that “there is need to have clarity of the issues involved in money laundering in order to be able to track the areas where the UAE can join force with the international body to more effectively recover the proceeds generated from financial crimes.”

During the event, permanent secretary at the UK Home Office, Mark Sedwill also stated that “money laundering puts the country’s financial institutions in a funny position, pulls back economic development and also stands in the way of transnational trade or business transactions.”

The event is focused on the legal set up of the UAE and that of the UK , as well as ways that the two countries can work together to combat money laundering.