The Central Bank launches an awareness campaign to enhance compliance with the regulations for transferring money through intermediaries

The Central Bank of the UAE, in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and a number of law enforcement partners, launched an awareness campaign aimed at enhancing community awareness of laws, regulations and standards for remittances, in order to ensure the preservation of transparency and integrity of financial transactions through registered hawala brokers.

The UAE adopts transparency, follow-up and governance in the areas of financial transactions, as the relevant authorities work in an integrated manner according to a work system to enhance efforts to combat money laundering and related crimes, based on the strategy and directives of the UAE government seeking to enhance security and safety, consolidate the integrity of the financial system, and provide the appropriate environment For economic and investment growth, and to enhance the country's reputation in international forums.

Ministries, national authorities, bodies and institutions are working to support the efforts of the Supreme Committee to oversee the national strategy to counter money laundering and terrorist financing, which aims to enhance the efforts of the UAE in the areas of raising the state’s capabilities and strengthening its work system by confronting such crimes, and strengthening the capabilities of national cadres in the areas of investigations and financial analysis. and control, control and governance related to related crimes.

The campaign includes a series of legal awareness messages, which are broadcast on the platforms of the participating parties and through the media in several languages, based in their content on the main objectives of the campaign in enhancing the protection of society and individuals and introducing legal frameworks and legislation in areas specialized in financial transfers inside and outside the country.

The Central Bank is the supervisory authority that regulates the work of remittance brokers in the country, and is committed to ensuring that each remittance broker complies with the laws, regulations and standards in the country, and works closely with other authorities and bodies within the country to monitor hawala intermediaries, and ensure that they are mandatory registration with the Central Bank and obtain a certificate The registration that allows remittance activities to be carried out using the specified trade name, and the details of these activities are submitted to the Central Bank on a daily basis, as every remittance broker who practices the activity without a certificate is outside the law, which exposes him to investigation and legal prosecution by law enforcement authorities.

The certificate is issued in exchange for fulfilling all conditions for registration in the "goAML" system for reporting suspicious transactions to the financial information unit in the country, and to the money transfer system at the Central Bank.

Failure to comply with these requirements also leads to administrative and financial penalties, including cancellation or non-renewal of the certificate.

The Central Bank: unremitting efforts to enhance transparency and financial governance.

UAE Central Bank Governor Khalid Muhammad Salem Balama Al Tamimi said, “The Central Bank launched the Hawala brokers registration system with the aim of ensuring the application of transparency, integrity and financial governance in transactions executed through brokers registered with us, and in implementation of measures to counter money laundering and combat the financing of terrorism, and to protect the financial system. of the Emirates".

He added, "The Central Bank will continue to take all measures to ensure the integrity of the financial system, and to ensure that all financial transactions issued by the UAE are aligned with the systems and regulations included in the registered hawala brokers system."

The Ministry of Interior: continuous efforts to combat money laundering crimes.

For his part, the Deputy Director-General of the Federal Criminal Police at the Ministry of Interior, Head of the Subcommittee for Investigating Money Laundering Crimes, Brigadier Abdulaziz Al-Ahmad, said: "The efforts of the Ministry of Interior in the field of combating crimes related to money laundering and terrorist financing continue according to a vision and firm plans, as the Ministry achieved positive results. And concrete through well-studied operations, and proactive, preventive and executive plans, based on studying the patterns and trends of these crimes, following up on their manifold threads, monitoring and analyzing suspicious activities through advanced systems, tools and techniques, leading to the arrest of the perpetrators, bringing them to justice, and cutting off their sources of funding with cross-border cooperation and coordination.

He pointed out the keenness of the Ministry of Interior, in continuous coordination with the concerned authorities, to follow up and monitor suspicious activities and methods developed by money laundering gangs and their attempts to finance suspicious activities and threaten the security of society, stressing that the Ministry is following up the process of the downfall of these gangs in the country, where they have no refuge in the UAE, and that The hand of justice will pursue them when engaging in criminal activities.

- Cases seized.

The competent bodies in the Ministry of Interior revealed, after investigation and research, in one of the cases received after their referral from the Central Bank to the Ministry of Interior, of an attempt to defraud a company that engages in money transfer activities without a license, which may create a supportive environment for illegal operations away from oversight, but The keenness and follow-up of the competent authorities put these illegal movements and operations in the grip of justice, as the company was referred to the judicial authorities and deterrent sentences were issued for such crimes between imprisonment, fines, financial fees, deportation from the state and confiscation of all seizures.

In a related case, the details of which are summarized by a company transferring sums of money to another country, and the accused was arrested during the receipt and delivery, and this was revealed through a report by one of the competent authorities that a suspicious bank transaction received a high turnover rate. The accused will be fined, confiscated and imprisoned for three years.

According to another case, and after receiving a referral from the Central Bank to the Ministry of Interior, a search and investigation process was carried out to find out that there were people who practiced financial activity without a license. Another country without a license, and with the support and coordination with the competent authorities, all the financial transactions carried out by the accused were exposed, as they were convicted by the Public Prosecution of illegal criminal activities and money laundering, with all funds confiscated.

The Central Bank also decided on June 28, 2022, not to renew the certificate of seven hawala brokers, due to the mandatory non-reporting of data to the Central Bank through deliberate regulations.

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