UAE CENTRAL BANK ON CASH COURIERS, DRAFT FINCEN MOU

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 000609

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI TREUTER, EB/ESC/TFS FOR DNELSON,
JSALOOM, JUNDERRINER, S/CT TKUSHNER
TREASURY FOR RELEBSON, MEPSTEIN, AELBASHARI
MANAMA FOR JBEAL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/20/2016
TAGS: PTER KTFN EFIN ETTC AE
SUBJECT: UAE CENTRAL BANK ON CASH COURIERS, DRAFT FINCEN MOU

REF: A. SECSTATE 19262


B. ABU DHABI 409

C. ABU DHABI 134

Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.5 b and d.


1. (C) On February 13 econoff met with Abdulrahim al-Awadi,
Executive Director and In-Charge of the Central Bank's
Anti-Money Laundering and Suspicious Cases Unit (AMLSCU) to
preview the points on cash couriers as provided in reftel.
Al-Awadi said that the UAE had not sent a delegate to the
FATF plenary in Cape Town, South Africa, but he appreciated
the advance notification of the cash courier issues that the
USG plans to raise during the MENAFATF plenary in March in
Cairo, Egypt. Al-Awadi said his delegation would be prepared
to engage in a discussion about cash couriers and the UAE's
efforts to regulate the inbound and outbound flow of cash.


2. (C) Al-Awadi also told econoff that the AMLSCU would soon
respond to the draft MOU between FinCEN and the AMLSCU that
the U.S. provided on the margins of the January 24 meeting of
the U.S./UAE Joint Terrorist Finance Coordinating Committee
(ref B). Al-Awadi told econoff that the AMLSCU's response to
the draft MOU was being reviewed by the Central Bank's legal
team, and that it would then be reviewed by the UAE Ministry
of Justice. He said the response would contain two main
points:

-- Advance Notification. Al-Awadi said that each country
should agree to notify the other party before actions are
taken against individuals or entities in that country.
Econoff explained that although there is no binding
requirement to do so, the U.S. often consults with the
country before designating an individual or entity. The U.S.
does this to give the host country the opportunity to
weigh-in or co-sponsor the designation. Al-Awadi understood
that this is often the practice, but he wants something that
binds the U.S. to consult with the UAE before a person or
organization in the UAE is designated.

-- Dissemination of Information. Al-Awadi said he wants to
add language into the MOU stating that information must come
through judicial channels if it is to be used in law
enforcement cases. He explained that in the UAE, information
obtained via Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) channels is
not admissible in court. He stressed that his reason for
wanting to include this language is to prevent "perpetrators
from being able to claim the information was obtained
illegally" and thus jeopardize the ability to convict them.
Econoff noted that the draft MOU states that the requesting
country must specify in the request how the information will
be used, and noted that the U.S. would want to retain the
ability to share FIU-obtained information with law
enforcement. Al-Awadi did not clarify whether he was seeking
to prevent FinCEN from being able to share such information.
He did insist, however, that UAE law states that "legal
proceedings must come through the judicial process." Econoff
told al-Awadi that the U.S. would carefully review any
proposed changes to the draft MOU language to be sure it was
acceptable to the United States. (Note: Al-Awadi was unable
to point to which specific provision of UAE law prevents
information obtained via FIU channels from being used in
judicial proceedings.)


3. (C) Comment. Al-Awadi's comments that information for law
enforcement must go through the judicial process are similar
to comments he made in November 2005 to a visiting FinCEN
official. At that time, al-Awadi said that information
provided to FinCEN by the AMLSCU is "not to be shared" with
law enforcement authorities (ref C). Although al-Awadi's
comments to econoff were not this strongly worded, Embassy is
concerned that he may try to insert language into the MOU
that would preclude FinCEN from sharing AMLSCU information
with law enforcement. End comment.
SISON