The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced temporary suspension of 32 gold refineries as part of the country's ongoing anti-money laundering campaign. According to the decision of the Ministry of Economy, the closure of the refineries is related to a series of inspections of the production and trade chains of precious metals and stones in order to comply with anti-money laundering laws in the gold sector.
The suspension affected 5% of the country's gold sector and is in effect from July 24 to October 24, 2024. A total of 256 violations have already been identified, that is, an average of eight violations per refinery. The most notable violations, as noted, included failure to implement necessary risk identification measures, failure to report suspicious transaction reports to the financial information unit when required, and failure to check customer data and transactions for names on terrorist lists.
According to Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy Abdullah Ahmed Al Saleh, “The UAE are steadfast in its commitment to developing a comprehensive legislative and regulatory framework to combat money laundering.”
“We are dedicated to achieving the highest levels of compliance with responsible gold supply chain due diligence regulations by aligning with the best international practices in this field,” he said.
The ministry, he added, is seeking to strengthen controls over a number of non-financial business sectors. These include precious metals and stones trading and production, real estate, corporate services, and audit.
Since autumn 2022, the UAE has been working to improve legislative barriers to money laundering and terrorist financing through transactions in the precious metals (gold) and stones trade. These rules came into force in January 2023.
A May report by Swissaid NGO estimated that two-thirds of gold imported into the UAE from Africa in 2022 was smuggled, with much of it then re-exported to other countries. Switzerland, a global gold refining hub, has previously expressed concerns about illicit shipments of bullion from the UAE. According to the NGO, in 2022, a total of 435 tons of gold were illegally exported from Africa.
Hélène Tarin, Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
