News

The Executive Office for control and Non – Proliferation (EOCN) held a workshop on "Combating the financing of Terrorism-Investigations and Modern Technologies", organized in cooperation with the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED). The seminar was attended by a group of experts and specialists, delegations from the GCC countries, the kingdom of Morocco, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Republic of Tunisia, government sector institutions from federal and local regulatory authorities, private sector institutions and more than 3500 participants via video communication technology.

During the workshop, new patterns and trends used by terrorists and terrorist groups to finance their activities and recruit foreign terrorist fighters, how to misuse modern technologies and virtual currencies by terrorist organizations, best practices and tools used to investigate, detect and track suspicious operations; have been identified.

In the opening speech of the event His Excellency Talal Al-Teneiji, EOCN director said: "Over the past years, the UAE has sought to develop the necessary legislative and operational frameworks to ensure compliance with international requirements in the field of combating the financing of terrorism and the application of targeted financial sanctions, through the adoption of a local list of terrorist individuals, entities and organizations. The list is electronically shared with national authorities and private sector to identify and freeze funds and assets belonging to terrorists, and report them to relevant authorities through approved electronic systems. This is to ensure the protection of the financial and banking system from any practices that may be exploited to avoid sanctions and passing funds through financial and non-financial systems"٠

 Al-Teneiji has also stressed the importance of national cooperation and the sharing of financial information as a fundamental pillar to combat all financial crimes, and that the partnership between the public sector and the private sector and the holding of periodic meetings results in depriving terrorists from exploiting funds and assets to support their activities. This is clearly reflected in the UAE's experience in performing dialogue with private sector represented by financial sectors, businesses and non-financial professions, especially in how to develop the mechanism of information exchange and listen to the views of private sector to enhance the level of effectiveness of combating crimes, including terrorist financing crimes.

During the workshop sessions, experts discussed the indicators of suspicion regarding virtual assets and the process of assessing risks of virtual assets in the UAE, methods of investigation by law enforcement agencies in cases of terrorist financing related to modern technologies, mechanisms for investigating virtual assets related to organized crime, in addition to best practices in the seizure, confiscation and management of virtual assets. Experts have also reviewed the links related to organized crime in the collection and transfer of funds through practical cases confirming the importance of financial information to the private sector and reporting cases suspected of being linked to the financing of terrorism.