ABU DHABI: Hamid AlZaabi, Director-General of the Executive Office for Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (EO AML/CTF), participated in a high level anti-money laundering (AML) roundtable convened on the sidelines of the thirty-third session of the United Nation’s Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
The roundtable was hosted by Ghada Fathi Waly, Director-General/ Executive Director of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV)/United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It featured senior global figures in anti-financial crime including T. Raja Kumar, President of the Finanical Action Task Force (FATF), and Jurgen Stock, Secretary-General of Interpol.
The roundtable addressed strengthening international cooperation in combating financial crimes, which in turn contributes, through international partners, to strengthening the strategic objectives of the United Nations Office and its mission to achieve peace and security and promote human rights and development by maki
ng the world safer from drugs, crime, corruption and terrorism.
Al Zaabi emphasised the UAE’s high commitment to combating financial crimes and prioritising effective international cooperation and multilateral solutions. “The work carried out by our country in recent years has undoubtedly led to improvements in technical compliance, but the greatest achievement lies in the impact of these improvements on effectiveness,” he noted.
He added, “As financial crime typologies are evolving, the misuse of new technology is more common than before, including cybercrimes, electronic fraud, and risks of virtual assets. Tangible progress has been made in developing the appropriate regulatory framework for monitoring and combating these activities and mitigating their risks. Instead of considering this as a momentum, we must recognise that our progress is just a step along a continuous journey that requires concerted efforts and active engagement with our international counterparts in combating financial crime globally.
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The Director-General paid tribute to the critical role that the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the UNODC play in improving international action to combat national and transnational crime, and the efficiency and fairness of criminal justice administration systems cannot be understated.
He assured that the MoU signed between the EO AML/CTF and the UNODC in October 2022 underscores the robust coordination between the two parties in combatting money laundering crimes.
Source: Emirates News Agency