The UAE’s Ministry of Justice has suspended the licenses of 200 law firms for a month for AML violations. These firms did not appoint an AML compliance officer. Moreover, they failed to submit answers to a questionnaire on money-laundering laws. Further, they did not update their data as requested by the authorities. Additionally, the firms will be penalized monetarily with fines between Dh50,000 ($14k) to Dh5 million ($1.4m).
UAE laws dictate that law firms must penalize offenders related to money laundering. Thus, in September, the authorities had advised all law firms to check if they were compliant with all AML/CFT regulations. If not, the authorities had asked law firms to promptly implement stringent AML/CFT compliance measures. They even organized online sessions to convey the importance of such compliance measures after amends were made to the AML/CFT regulations in August.
When some firms failed to fulfill their obligations, they were given a three-day grace period with strict warnings of monetary penalties for the defaulters. The Ministry will lift the suspension of the law firms after they submit proof that they have met their AML requirements.
Source name: Ministry of Justice, UAE