New financial crime office chief promises results
Efforts to fight money launderers, organised crime and those suspected of financing terrorists will be led by a new UAE body that was launched yesterday.
The Executive Office of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, will help protect the integrity of the UAE’s financial system and “actively pursue those who abuse it for illicit means”, said Hamid Al Zaabi, the new team’s director general.
“It’s an important moment for the UAE,” Mr Al Zaabi said. “The office will act as a national co-ordinator with internal, intergovernmental and international organisations to tackle money laundering and crack down on the financiers of terror.”
The launch is part of a series of measures to tackle money laundering in the UAE.
The office will protect vital financial interests undermined by dirty money, illicit finance and the funding of terrorism.
“The office will be working in tandem with regional and global entities like the Gulf Co-operation Council, the [G7’s] Financial Action Task Force and the G20,” said Mr Al Zaabi, an accomplished anti-money laundering specialist with 21 years of experience, including extensive work in fighting terrorist financing.
The UAE is an alluring destination for investors and companies from around the globe and both Abu Dhabi and Dubai are growing financial centres.
The Financial Action Task Force, the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, has said the UAE “significantly strengthened” its regulatory framework to fight financial crime but added that as a major hub it should take urgent action to cut out the criminal financial flows that are attracted to it.
The government has already enacted strict laws and established dedicated departments to deal with money laundering and financial crime.
In November, the Ministry of Economy set up an antimoney laundering department. A dedicated court to tackle money laundering and tax evasion was established in Abu Dhabi.
The ministry has also decided to oversee professionals in non-financial sectors that are most exposed to money laundering.
These include independent accountants and auditors, property brokers, company service providers and dealers of precious metals and gemstones.
UAE authorities are scrutinising procedures to make the details of ultimate beneficial owners of businesses registered in the Emirates more transparent. This is to tackle the global phenomenon of shell companies.
“The Central Bank has also recently imposed financial sanctions on 11 banks for failing in living up to anti-money laundering standards and mechanisms,” said Mr Al Zaabi, who chaired the UAE’s Subcommittee to Combat the Financing of Terrorism, Illicit Organisations, and Arms Proliferation last year.
“The Cabinet has adopted a new law this year (Law 16/2021) to stipulate fines and administrative penalties for businesses violating anti-money laundering and terror financing laws under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Economy,” he said.
A speedy economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic is a central goal for the UAE.
In a world of borderless economies, the UAE’s new office is keeping abreast of developments with state-of-the-art techniques to detect and trace money disguised in blockchain transactions.
“The UAE is more serious now countering money laundering and standing up to those who are tampering with its economy at all levels,” Mr Al Zaabi said.