It started from companies and establishments operating in the gold sector

“The Economy”: Inspection campaigns to monitor “Business” compliance with anti-money laundering legislation

  • The Ministry called for taking the necessary measures before March 31.

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  • Safia Al-Safi: “The UAE has strong legislations to combat money laundering, and we are working hard with our partners to enforce them.”

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The Ministry of Economy, in cooperation with the Central Bank, the Securities and Commodities Authority, the Federal Customs Authority, and the Dubai Multi Commodities Center, has begun implementing extensive inspection campaigns on the business sector and specific non-financial professions, with the aim of monitoring the sector's compliance with the anti-money laundering legislation, regulations and decisions in force in the country, The ministry stated in a statement yesterday that the beginning was from the companies and establishments operating in the gold sector, noting that the campaign will continue during the coming weeks, to include all activities within the business sector and specific non-financial professions, which includes agents, real estate brokers, dealers of precious metals and gemstones, and auditors. Accounts and corporate service providers.

Dedicated team

The ministry added that a specialized technical team from the regulatory authorities is carrying out the campaign that includes field and office inspections and surprise visits, in addition to directing technical questions, examination and intense scrutiny of documents and documents, governance policies, and the activities of the company under inspection inside and outside the country over the past years, as well as Investigate import and export movement, operations, projects, and others.

The ministry indicated that the campaigns focus mainly on monitoring internal regulations, and assessing the extent of their compliance with the requirements of compliance with Federal Law No. (20) of 2018 regarding countering money laundering crimes, combating the financing of terrorism and financing illegal organizations and its implementing regulations and related decisions, foremost of which is the assessment of understanding risks Money laundering in the inspected company, and whether it has fulfilled legal requirements such as appointing a compliance officer, taking due diligence measures in its dealings with its customers, and the extent to which the procedures for financial transfers it carries out conform to the standards of the banking system in the country, and follow-up on whether it deals with suspicious parties .

Strong legislation

The Director of the Anti-Money Laundering Department at the Ministry of Economy, Safia Al-Safi, said that the UAE has strong and appropriate legislation and deterrent violations, with regard to confronting money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, stressing that the Ministry of Economy is working seriously with its partners to enforce these legislations to ensure the safety and transparency of transactions. The commercial sector in the business sector and specific non-financial professions, and not allowing the business environment in the country to be a haven for money laundering and terrorist financing crimes

Required steps

Al-Safi called on the concerned companies to intensify their efforts to enhance awareness of the risks of money laundering and keep pace with the government's efforts in this file, explaining that the most important steps required at the present time are to expedite registration in the financial information unit (goAML) system, and the system of the Commodities and Materials Committee subject to import and export control ( The automatic reporting system for the sanctions lists), and taking measures related to the two systems, before March 31, 2021, to avoid penalties that may reach suspension of the license and closure of the facility, or fines that may reach five million dirhams.

The most prominent malpractices

The Ministry of Economy and the partner supervisory authorities clarified the most prominent violations and wrong practices, which would place the target companies under penalty and fines, as a result of non-compliance with the legal requirements regarding anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing, including: failure to register in anti-money laundering systems, not appointing Compliance officer, failure to take due diligence measures towards clients, failure or weakness of risk assessment at the internal level of the company concerned and at the level of its clients and its business relations, deficiency of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing policies and procedures, most notably the weakness of the suspicious reporting process and failure to take measures Necessary according to the executive regulations of the law, dealing with persons, bodies and areas classified under the category of "high risk" by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), failure to keep documents and records, weakness of internal auditing systems and corporate governance policies, weakness of the process of training officials and employees on systems and procedures for confronting money laundering.

• Campaigns come in cooperation with the Central Bank, Securities, Customs and Multi-Commodities.

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