Al-Eqtisad continues its efforts to implement the legislative and supervisory system to confront money laundering

Abu Dhabi, 6 August / WAM / The Ministry of Economy confirmed the continuation of its efforts to implement the legislative and supervisory system to confront money laundering in the country in accordance with the best international practices, and to continue supervising the business sectors and specified non-financial professions, in order to ensure achieving the highest levels of compliance with legislation to confront money laundering crimes and combat the financing of... Terrorism in the state.

The Ministry explained that implementing the policy regarding due diligence regulations for the responsible supply chain of gold in the country comes within the framework of its supervisory role over the gold sector and the activities of trade and industry of precious metals and gemstones, and in line with the country’s commitment to the international standards adopted in this regard, the most important of which are the standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. “OECD”.

In this context, the Ministry indicated that it carried out a series of field inspection tours on activities related to the trade and industry of precious metals and gemstones, to ensure the highest levels of compliance with anti-money laundering legislation in the gold sector in the country according to a clear mechanism for office and field inspection.

These tours resulted in the temporary cessation of activity for 32 gold refineries in the local market, representing 5% of the gold sector in the country, for a period of 3 months, starting from July 24 last year until October 24, 2024.

The Ministry indicated that these refineries committed 256 violations, with 8 violations for each refinery, the most prominent of which was not taking the necessary measures and procedures to identify risks, not notifying the Financial Information Unit of a suspicious transaction report when necessary, as well as failing to check customer and transaction databases against names included in terrorist lists. .

His Excellency Abdullah Ahmed Al Saleh, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, said: “The UAE confirms its firm commitment to developing the integrated legislative and regulatory system to confront money laundering, and achieving the highest levels of compliance with the policy of due diligence regulations for the responsible supply chain of gold, by keeping pace with the best practices followed globally in "This regard."

His Excellency added, "The Ministry is making continuous efforts to strengthen its supervisory role over the business sectors and designated non-financial professions in the country, which are the activities of trading and manufacturing precious metals and gemstones, the activities of real estate brokers, establishments operating in the corporate service providers sector, and the activities of auditors, by intensifying Inspection campaigns, to ensure the highest levels of compliance with anti-money laundering legislation in force in the country.”

It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Economy announced in September 2022 the policy of due diligence regulations for the responsible procurement process, as part of a set of controls and standards, which aim to provide a strong national work system to confront money laundering and combat the financing of terrorism, in one of the economic sectors. The important sector is the trade of gemstones and precious metals “gold”, which entered into force in January 2023.

Al-Yazia Al-Kaabi / Abdel Nasser Moneim

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