« Back to Glossary IndexMoney Laundering
Money laundering is the illegal process of disguising the origins of criminally obtained funds to make them appear legitimate. In the UAE, Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) mandates strict financial reporting, customer due diligence (CDD), and suspicious transaction monitoring. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the UAE Central Bank, and free zone regulators like DFSA and ADGM enforce compliance, requiring banks, law firms, and real estate businesses to report suspicious financial activities. Violations of AML laws can result in heavy fines, asset seizures, and criminal prosecution.
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