Two international money-laundering operations involving the illegal transfer of funds and cryptocurrencies have been broken up in Dubai, with a number of people arrested, officials say.
Prosecutors in the emirate referred an Emirati, 21 British citizens, two US citizens, a Czech citizen and two companies owned by the Emirati person to the Criminal Court of First Instance at Dubai Courts, where they face charges of possessing illicit funds of Dh461 million ($125 million), as well as forgery of official documents and their use.
An investigation uncovered that funds were being smuggled from the UK into the UAE using two companies acting as fronts, Dubai Government Media Office said. The suspects were accused of using forged documents and falsely declaring the money as proceeds from legitimate trade in the UK.
In another operation, the Dubai Economic Security Centre and the Public Funds Prosecution in Dubai teamed up to disrupt what is believed to be an organised crime network involved in laundering Dh180 million in cryptocurrency.
In this case, prosecutors referred a "a network of 30 individuals and three companies to the Money Laundering Court at Dubai Courts". They are accused of laundering cash through unlicensed cryptocurrency intermediaries in the UK and Dubai.
Two Indian citizens and one person from the UK are accused of orchestrating the scheme, in which proceeds were allegedly generated by drug trafficking, fraud and tax evasion in Britain. An operation led to the arrest of the accused and the freezing of bank accounts suspected of being used for money-laundering activities, the media office said.
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The years Ramadan fell in May
The currency conundrum
Russ Mould, investment director at online trading platform AJ Bell, says almost every major currency has challenges right now. “The US has a huge budget deficit, the euro faces political friction and poor growth, sterling is bogged down by Brexit, China’s renminbi is hit by debt fears while slowing Chinese growth is hurting commodity exporters like Australia and Canada.”
Most countries now actively want a weak currency to make their exports more competitive. “China seems happy to let the renminbi drift lower, the Swiss are still running quantitative easing at full tilt and central bankers everywhere are actively talking down their currencies or offering only limited support," says Mr Mould.
This is a race to the bottom, and everybody wants to be a winner.
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Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
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Our legal columnist
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Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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