ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 13th Feb, 2021) The Higher Committee Overseeing the National Strategy on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism, has convened its first meeting in 2021 via video conference.
The committee members were briefed on the latest developments of the action plan for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finance in addition to the future plans developed to achieve the set objectives in the best possible manners.
During the meeting Sultan bin Saeed Al Badi Al Dhaheri, Minister of Justice, and Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Cabinet Member and Minister of Economy, reviewed the progress made by their ministries to counter money laundering and financing terrorism.
Amna Mahmoud Fekri, the Director of the Economic and Trade Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, reviewed the achievements made with regards to both countering money laundering and financing of terrorism and the UAE’s Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) over the past period.
She cited in this regard the issuance of the Cabinet Decision No 16 of 2021 on the Unified List of Violations and Administrative Penalties, which are levied on violators of money laundering and terrorism financing countermeasures, under the oversight of the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Economy. She also highlighted the issuance of the Federal Decree-Law No 32 of 2020 on amending some of the provisions of Federal Law of 2008 on Non-government Organisations and Associations of Public Benefit.
She underlined the Ministry's plan to apply the law in collaboration and coordination with the executives councils of all emirates and to restructure the subcommittees of the Higher Committee Overseeing the National Strategy on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism and Illegal Organisations. She also shed light on the planned formation of a new offshoot committee to be in charge of business registration in the UAE with the objective of strengthening the efficiency of all committees and optimizing their performance.
The meeting was attended by Obaid bin Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs; Sultan bin Saeed Al Badi Al Dhaheri, Minister of Justice; Hessa Essa Buhumaid, Minister of Community Development; Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy; Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Minister of State; Ali Saeed Matar Al Neyadi, Chairman of the Federal Customs Authority; Abdulhamid Saeed, Governor of the UAE Central Bank; Ali bin Hammad Al Shamsi, Deputy Secretary-General of the Supreme National Security Council; Ahmed Al Dhaheri, Head of the State Security; Talal Hamid Belhoul, Director-General of the State Security in Dubai; Rashid Saeed Al Amri, Under-Secretary of Government Coordination at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs; Saif Abdullah Al Shaafar, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior; Abdulnasser Alshaali, Assistant Minister for Economic and Trade Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; and Amna Fekri, Director of Economic and Trade Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
