The Bani Yas Court of First Instance acquitted an "Asian national" accused of money laundering charges after being caught while entering the country through a border crossing and holding cash in excess of what is permitted by law and without disclosing it.
The details of the case are due to the seizure by the competent authorities of the accused, upon his entry into the country from his country, where he was seized after receiving his bags of cargo and possession of one of his bags of 225 thousand dollars he did not disclose. The defendant denied the charge against him during the trial sessions.
In the case of the "customs inspector" during the prosecution's investigation, the witness stated that he had asked a passenger to go to the inspection. When the traveler arrived at the inspection area he was told that he had a financial amount he did not know exactly and that the money was due to him. He searched his bag and found the money, Of the accused if he had disclosed the amounts of money, he said no, pointing out that the defendant did not pass the area of disclosure and that he was searched for suspicion.
The defense of the accused, lawyer Hassan al-Riyami, presented a memorandum in which he paid for the absence of a crime because of the unavailability of its elements and the nullity of the inspection procedures, the lack of criminal intent and the invalidity of the summaries of the inferences and the lack of investigations.
The court explained in its ruling that the text of Article 6 of Federal Law No. 4 of 2002 regarding the criminalization of money laundering stipulates that the Central Bank shall set the maximum limit for the amounts allowed to be entered into the State in cash without the need for disclosure and subject to the disclosure system set by the Bank Central.
The ruling pointed out that the decision of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank for the year 2011 stipulated in its first paragraph to put adequate signals at the airports, ports and land border crossing points, indicating the amount of the maximum amount of cash and its holder, which is required to be disclosed in a sufficient number of languages. Article 6 stipulates that Customs officials must keep sufficient quantities of the disclosure form at their disposal at all times, and provide incoming and departing passengers wishing to disclose the cash they hold). In addition, Section VIII of the same resolution indicates that in case of non-disclosure and discovery of cash exceeding the limit The responsible customs officer shall investigate the reasons for non-disclosure)
The Court's ruling pointed out that the case papers had been nullified, indicating that the customs had provided what must be provided in accordance with the requirements stipulated in the decision of the Central Bank administration, and that these procedures are related to public order as determined by the Honorable Court of Cassation No. 19 of 2016, The court acquires the accused from the charge against him, pursuant to article 211 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.