MLAT bogged down in UAE bureaucracy

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 002181 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR NEA/ARP, L/LEI DOJ FOR OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KCRM PGOV TC SUBJECT: MLAT bogged down in UAE bureaucracy ¶1. (SBU) The UAE Government's review of a U.S.- proposed text for a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) is not going to be completed until after the summer, although the UAE remains committed to the reaching an agreement, Yacub Al-Hosani, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Director of International Organizations, told Polchief on June 30. Al-Hosani, who handled the MLAT portfolio when he was Deputy Director of Legal Affairs until earlier this year, said that the UAE interagency committee (consisting of MFA, Interior, and Justice members) continues to review the draft text that the Embassy submitted to the UAEG back in January. ¶2. (SBU) "We have instructions from our leaders to strengthen cooperation in law enforcement. We do not want to conduct this type of business on a case-by- case basis or ad hoc," Al-Hosani said. Abdul Rahim Al-Awadi, Director for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Justice, had told Polchief in April and again in May that Justice had completed its review of the document, but he did not characterize his ministry's position one way or the other. ¶3. (SBU) Al-Hosani said that the MFA's review of MLAT may have stalled in the Legal Affairs Department because its director, Ahmed Al-Jarman, did not have a deputy for many months. Al-Hosani confided that a massive restructuring at MFA now under way will result in Al-Jarman being given a more senior portfolio, and Al-Hosani returning to Legal Affairs. He was pessimistic that MLAT would budge over the summer months because of this and because of staff taking their vacations. ALBRIGHT