UAE to Set Up Dedicated Money Laundering Prosecution Offices

UAE to Set Up Dedicated Money Laundering Prosecution Offices

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

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 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 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.

Tackling financial crimes

The Emirates has sought to counter the threat posed by economic crimes.

UAE authorities have extradited 899 criminals since 2020, of which 43 were involved in money-laundering crimes.

Ten of those were terrorists or were financing terrorist activities.

The UAE has