UAE orders banks to freeze Libyan assets

English.news.cn   2011-06-20

DUBAI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The central bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has instructed banks operating in the Gulf country to freeze the assets of 19 Libyan individuals and entities in line with the UN Security Council's two resolutions, a senior bank official said Monday.

"We have implemented UN Security Council's Resolutions on Libya and are in the process of preparing a report. We are expecting with the next week or so to complete the report for onward submission to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Abdul Rahim Al Awadi, executive director at the central bank's anti-money laundering and suspicious cases unit, was quoted as saying by local English daily Gulf News.

Al Awadi made the remarks on the sidelines of a conference in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi on methods to detect and combat money laundering, according to the newspaper.

He said banks have been instructed to search for and freeze any accounts, investments, deposits or safe deposit boxes in the names of the individuals and entities, which appeared in the two UN Security Council resolutions.

Banks have also been told to stop any fund transfers linked to the names mentioned in the two resolutions, the official added.

The UAE will carry out new rules in September to curb money laundering activities, the central bank said Sunday.

Last week, the UAE recognized Libya's rebel Transitional National Council (TNC) as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people, becoming the second Arab nation after Qatar to officially recognize Libya's rebel group.

Editor: Mu Xuequan