The UAE’s Senior Advocate General and Head of Public Funds Prosecution Ismail Madani has detailed several cases where the country fined and jailed people for financial irregularities, and recovered sums to the tune of millions of dirhams from them.
He was detailing the steps taken by the country to combat money laundering and terrorism financing when he gave these examples.
In one case, he said the former employee of a Dubai bank was convicted of embezzling more than AED5.23 million (around $1.42 million) belonging to real-estate development companies and was deposited with the bank.
The man was ordered to be imprisoned for five years, return the embezzled amount, and be deported.
In another case, the Dubai Criminal Court convicted an individual, who entered the country through Dubai International Airport, for concealing funds in his possession.
The court fined him AED100,000 (around $27,230) and confiscated the amount of AED1,108,484 (more than $301,800) seized in different currencies from him.
In yet another case, the court convicted nine defendants on the charge of providing exchange services and transferring money without a license, in addition to money laundering. The amount involved was not mentioned.
Then there was the case where one person was jailed for two years and another for six months, with a fine of AED300,000 (almost $81,700) on both of them, besides deportation.
It also saw the company of the second accused convicted in its capacity as a legal person, fined AED1 million (almost $272,300) and seized funds amounting to AED8,783,577 ($2.39 million) confiscated.
The convictions were reportedly for the crimes of money-laundering and financial fraud, with a US bank as the victim.
Meanwhile, Madani was quoted by official sources as saying that the Public Prosecution and its specialized partners — courts, police agencies, the central bank, Customs, the Financial Information Unit, and the Executive Office — have been given explicit authority to combat crimes of money laundering and terrorist financing.
Other law enforcement agencies have also been authorized to receive reports about suspicious financial practices, issue decisions, track and seize funds, and monitor bank accounts.
The Criminal Court has been authorized to impose penalties, confiscations and fines related to funds obtained from these crimes.
The legal authority and powers given to these organizations are part of supportive measures aimed at helping them detect crimes and its perpetrators without prejudice to the legislation in force, said Madani.