Deterrent laws: The Sultanate is a ‘pioneer’ in the region in the development of suitable legislation and regulations necessary to combat money laundering and terror financing: Executive President
The Sultanate continues to modernise its laws and strengthen its capabilities in the fight against money laundering and terror financing, Tahir bin Salim al Amri, Executive President of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO), stressed on Wednesday.
Speaking at the opening of a webinar on ‘Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)’, organised by well-known accounting and advisory services firm Crowe Oman, the official dubbed money laundering and terror financing as the twin evils of the present era.
“The Sultanate has continued steadily to strengthen its capabilities by taking proactive measures and practical steps to enhance the efficiency of its systems and expand the scope of activation of its legal statutes, the capabilities of its concerned agencies and through its preparation to keep pace with developments and advances on the local, regional and international arenas in combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism,” Al Amri stated.
In a series of presentations, a panel of experts from Crowe Oman urged financial institutions and regulated entities, as well as non-financial organisations covered by the provisions of the AML / CFT law, to adopt steps to tackle potential risks of exposure to AML / CFT phenomena.
Earlier, the Executive President, who also chairs the National Committee on Anti-Money Laundering & Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT), described the Sultanate as a “pioneer” in the region in the development of suitable legislation and regulations necessary to combat money laundering and terror financing.
Oman’s legal procedures and statutes, he said, comply with the “highest applicable international standards”.
These encompass the original Forty Recommendations drawn up by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), as well as the decisions and recommendations of FATF in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA-FATF), various UN Security Council resolutions, operational agreements, and UN treaties ratified by the Sultanate.
“Furthermore, Oman believes in adopting best international practices applied in effectively combating money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, with the aim of warding off these transboundary crimes away from Oman’s promising and solid financial and economic systems and preserving and safeguarding its current and future gains and achievements,” Al Amri remarked.
Oman’s efforts to tackle money laundering and terror financing can be traced back to the 1990s when the first of a series of deterrent legislative actions were adopted, said the Executive President.
Notable is Royal Decree 17/1999 promulgating the law on combating narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Chapter 8 of the Royal Decree criminalises money laundering resulting from illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, he said.
This was followed by the Law on Combating Money Laundering, promulgated by Royal Decree 34 / 2002 in response to the legislative needs of that period.
Seeking to align these domestic statutes with international strategies and conventions targeting these global menaces, the full-fledged Law on Combating Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism was promulgated by Royal Decree 79 / 2010, strengthened further by Royal Decree 30 /2016.
For its part, the Central Bank of Oman has issued its own directives to all banks, exchange companies and finance and leasing companies operating in the Sultanate about AML / CFT related risks. On a similar note, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) has issued its own directives to securities and insurance companies operating in the Sultanate, he added.
CONRAD PRABHU
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