Workshop on combating money laundering in Al Dakhiliyah Governorate

Nizwa: The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, in cooperation with the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Interior Branch, today organized a workshop on combating money laundering, targeting owners of commercial institutions and companies in the sectors of trading in precious metals and valuable stones, and accounting and auditing offices.

The seminar aimed to introduce representatives of these sectors to the crime of money laundering and its risks to the national economy, the most important requirements for combating it, the laws and legislation regulating the crime of money laundering, due care for customers, keeping information and records, and reporting suspicious transactions and information, in addition to introducing tax evasion and its methods, the damages resulting from it, and ways to address them.

Nasser bin Ashraf Al Balushi, Head of the Anti-Money Laundering Department at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, gave a visual presentation in which he touched on the definition of money laundering, its stages and risks, special legislation in this field, the most important requirements for combating money laundering, and indicators of suspicion.

He explained that money laundering is every financial or banking transaction that aims to hide or change the identity of funds obtained illegally, by passing them through the financial and banking system in order to appear as emanating from legitimate sources, and then re-injecting and investing them in a legal manner other than their reality. For his part, Captain Saeed bin Mohammed Al-Maawali from the National Center for Financial Information presented a working paper on the center’s specializations and powers and how to register and submit suspicious reports. The occasion was sponsored by His Excellency Sheikh Saleh bin Dhiyab Al-Rubaie, Governor of Nizwa.