UAE to set up money laundering prosecution offices

UAE is to establish federal prosecution offices dedicated to money laundering and other economic crimes.

The dedicated bodies are being set up in an effort to boost the country's “financial stability and economic growth,” state news agency Wam reported on Sunday.

The directive – which was proposed by the Attorney General – was approved by the Federal Judicial Council, chaired by Minister of Justice, Abdullah Al Nuaimi.

The new offices are viewed as a “first step towards investigating and cracking down on economic crimes and money laundering”.

These will include corporate crimes, bankruptcy, regulation of competition, financial markets, intellectual property and trademarks and customs evasion offences.

“The UAE is intensifying its relentless efforts to combat economic crimes and money laundering, taking many crucial steps to strengthen the legislative and legal structure towards reaching this goal, and to protect the national economy, further enhancing the confidence of international investors in the UAE’s business environment and encouraging them to bring their businesses to the UAE,” Wam reported.

UAE has issued fines of more than Dh115 million ($31.3 million) in the first quarter of the year in its fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

“The Ministry of Justice puts the issue of strengthening international co-operation in the field of combating financial crime and organised crime at the forefront of its priorities,” Judge Abdul Rahman Al Blooshi said in a press release issued in May.

The UAE's campaign against money laundering and financial crimes is “yielding fruitful results”, the Governor of the country's Central Bank said this month.