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Judicial agreements signed with the US, Russia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Italy
Ten thousand
The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Executive Office met on Thursday to review progress in the first half of 2022. Highlights of the review include the UAE’s signing of five new international judicial cooperation agreements with the US, Russia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Italy.
Here are some other highlights:
- Regular strategic cooperation and technical seminars with EU, US and UK
- The National Economic Registry now contains ultimate beneficial ownership of 77% of company vehicles – an important criterion for transparency. Plans are in place to reach 100%
- 51% YoY increase in reported suspicious transactions (Q1’21 vs. Q1’22), indicating greater private sector understanding of AML/CFT and scrutiny by regulators
- 16 government agencies and more than 20 private sector representatives joined the Private-Public Partnership to improve the effectiveness of the AML/CFT regime and develop legislation to share information between the public and private sectors.
Significant AML/CFT enforcement actions have been taken, and Director General Hamid Al Zaabi said: “We have a clear agenda to combat illicit finance and maintain the integrity of the global financial system. Action Plan and National AML/CFT Strategy. We are encouraged by our positive progress in 2021 into the first six months of the year.
“As we advance our financial crime compliance framework in the UAE and around the world, our priority remains building long-term, sustainable capabilities and accelerating the UAE’s ability to detect, investigate and understand money laundering and terrorist financing.”
global cooperation
During 2022, the UAE-UK will hold regular bilateral dialogues to discuss improving information, financial intelligence and promoting actions to combat AML/CFT. Similar events were held in the European Union (EU) and the United States. The UAE also signed five new International Judicial Cooperation Agreements (ICJA) with the US, Russia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Italy.
During his visit to the US in July 2022, the Chief Executive led a UAE delegation to meet with the Ministry of Finance, private sector entities and key think tanks to discuss areas of cooperation in combating money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.
Reporting suspicious transactions and financial intelligence
The UAE Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is the central authority that works closely with relevant competent authorities to identify possible links between proceeds of crime, money laundering or terrorist financing.
In March 2022, the UAE worked closely with international counterparties to double-list individuals belonging to terrorist groups. This led UAE law enforcement agencies to take action to arrest the men, raid their offices and residences, and collect physical and electronic evidence.
During this period, enforcement actions by regulators totalled more than Dh42 million.
The UAE seized more than Dh2.35 billion in illicit assets in 2021, of which Dh15 million was gold and precious metals.
UAE has many successes: arrest of a European thief who stole Dh3 million; fraudulent schemes in cryptocurrency transactions and money laundering uncovered, leading to arrest and prosecution of defendants; 40 jailed and fined for fraud and money laundering Dh860 million, which includes many other major arrests and international cases, such as the arrest of the suspect Sanjay Shah, and the arrest of the Gupta brothers with South African authorities.
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