The UAE Central Bank imposed a fine of AED 350,000 on six hawala operators for violation of the country’s Anti Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organisations (AML/CFT) laws.
The bank said in a statement that hawala providers were penalized for not registering on the regulator’s GoAML reporting system on time.
“The Central Bank imposed a financial sanction of AED 50,000 on each, with a doubled amount for one Hawala provider with a prior violation of a similar nature. The Central Bank allowed ample time for all registered Hawala providers operating in the UAE to register on the GoAML system, who were informed that further delays would result in penalties under the AML/CFT Law.”
They used hawala, a traditional system of transferring money whereby the money is paid to an agent who then instructs an associate in the relevant country or area to pay the final recipient and as a result of these transactions no record is maintained.
This resulted in the possibility of the funds being misused for money laundering and terror financing.
