The UAE’s Ministry of Economy has suspended the licences of 32 gold refineries in the country for non-compliance with the anti-money laundering legislation (AML).
A statement issued by the Ministry said that licences of these refineries, which represent 5 per cent of the gold sector in the country, were suspended from July 24, 2024 to October 24, 2024.
The Ministry said the decision came after it carried out a series of field inspections on activities related to the trade and manufacturing of precious metals and gemstones to ensure the highest levels of AML compliance in the gold sector.
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The crackdown against financial crimes has been intensified as inspections found 256 violations by these refineries, with eight violations for each refinery. The most prominent of these were not taking necessary measures and procedures to identify risks, not notifying the Financial Information Unit of a suspicious transaction report when necessary, and not examining customer and transaction databases against names included in the terrorism lists.
“The UAE affirms its firm commitment to developing an integrated legislative and regulatory system to combat money laundering and achieve 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,” said Abdullah Ahmed Al Saleh, undersecretary of the UAE’s Ministry of Economy.
In September 2022, the Ministry of Economy announced the Due Diligence Regulations Policy for the Responsible Sourcing Process to provide a strong national work system to combat money laundering and combat the financing of terrorism, in the precious stones and gold sectors. This came into effect in January 2023.
“The Ministry is making continuous efforts to enhance its supervisory role over the designated non-financial business sectors and professions in the country, represented by the activities of trading and manufacturing precious metals and gemstones, the activities of real estate brokers, establishments operating in the corporate service provider sector, and the activities of auditors, by intensifying inspection campaigns to ensure the highest levels of compliance with the anti-money laundering legislation in force in the country,” said Al Saleh.