1,687 notifications received as suspect cases on money-laundering, terror funding increase

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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 18: Reports received by the Financial Intelligence Unit about suspicions of money laundering and terror financing in Kuwait increased by 63 percent during one year, as the unit received 1,687 notifications during the fiscal year 2018/2019, compared to 1,036 notifications from the previous year, reports Al-Rai daily.

Informed sources told the daily that the jump in the number of notifications is linked to the rise in awareness of officials concerned with combating money laundering and terrorist financing and adopting the system of monitoring and follow-up mechanisms for financial operations, to ensure compliance with the laws and legislations put in place related to combating laundering money and terrorist financing.

Meanwhile, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has informed banks and local exchange firms to provide it with all the transactions of a non-Arab person (who is said to be residing in the UAE) for six months transactions made between Jan 1 and until June 30, 2019.

The sources stated that the Unit has requested approved detailed statement for the aforementioned period from banks and exchange companies, provided that the statement includes all relevant information (the date of the operation, the amount, the beneficiary, the beneficiary’s country, the currency, etc.), along with a diverse sample of documents of the transactions carried out by the company.

The sources explained that the Unit usually inquires details about a person’s transactions, when the frequency of transfers from Kuwait rises from multiple people continuously and this is part of 36 indicators that the Unit has updated, so that the addressees can discover the agents associated with terrorist financing, money laundering, suspicious and illegal funds.

On the other hand, it was learned that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has circulated to the corporate sector management not to agree to the license to open new branches of exchange companies, or to amend its founding contracts, or its statutes or any other amendment, except after the approval of the Central Bank of Kuwait to the procedures required to be licensed or add it or amend it.

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