The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Economy has suspended 32 local gold refineries for three months for not following anti–money laundering laws, it said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Following an inspection, the ministry charged the refineries with a total of 256 violations, eight each. Among the alleged infractions: not taking proper measures to identify money laundering risks, not making required notifications of suspicious transactions to the Financial Information Unit, and not examining customer and transaction databases against names on terrorism watch lists.
The suspensions began on July 24 and will last until Oct. 24. The 32 refineries account for 5% of the country’s gold sector, the ministry said.
Abdullah Ahmed al-Saleh, undersecretary for the Ministry of Economy, said in a statement that the country “affirms its firm commitment to developing an integrated legislative and regulatory system to combat money laundering, and to achieving the highest levels of compliance with the policy on due diligence regulations for the responsible gold supply chain, by keeping pace with the best global practices in this regard.”
In February, the Financial Action Task Force, the global anti–money laundering watchdog, removed the UAE from its “gray list,” noting it had made some “key reforms” to its laws.
(Photo: Getty Images)
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