Prosecution of Money Laundering Crime in UAE

This article discusses Federal Decree by Law No 20 of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organizations in United Arab Emirates. Here we will see Prosecution of Money Laundering Crime in UAE in detail.

Without prejudice to the provisions of Article (5) of this Decree-Law, no criminal proceedings shall be instituted against the perpetrator of money laundering, financing terrorism, or financing of illegal organisations in accordance with the provisions of this Decree-Law except by the public prosecutor or his delegate.

The Public prosecutor or his delegate and the competent court as the case may be shall issue a decision to take the necessary procedures to protect the intelligence information and the means and methods of obtaining such information or instruct the competent authorities to protect the witnesses, or the undisclosed sources, the accused or other parties involved in the case if there is a serious threat to their safety.

Action by Public Prosecution

The Public prosecution may, sua sponte or upon the request of the law enforcement authorities, should there be sufficient indicators of the occurrence of the crime, directly request access to accounts, records and documents held by third parties and request access to the stored data in the computer system and information technology programs, memorandums, correspondences and packages, identify track and seize the funds, control the accounts, issue travel bans and other procedures aiding in uncovering the crime and its perpetrators without prejudice to the legislation applicable to the UAE.

Undercover operations to combat Money Laundering

The Law Enforcement Authorities may conduct undercover operations and adopt other investigative methods and initiate the controlled delivery operation aimed at detecting the crime or its evidence or identifying the source and destination of the funds, proceeds or instrumentalities or arresting the perpetrators without prejudice to the legislations applicable in the UAE.

Any person involved in an undercover operation or a controlled delivery operation by Law Enforcement Authorities shall not be held criminally responsible unless such person has instigated the perpetration of the crime or exceeded the powers granted to him by the Law Enforcement Authorities.

The Relevant authorities in the UAE shall keep comprehensive statistics on the reports of suspicious transactions, investigations and crime-related judgments, seized, frozen or confiscated funds, international cooperation requests and any statistics related to the efficiency and sufficiency of crime combating procedures.

Visitor shall disclose his belongings

Any person shall disclose whenever he brings into the UAE or take out any currency or bearer negotiable instruments or precious metals or stones of value, in accordance with the disclosure system issued by the Central Bank.