Day: May 23, 2021

SHARJAH, Arada has awarded the construction contract to build The Boulevard, an upscale residential complex at its Sharjah mega-community Aljada. Located in the East Village district of Aljada, The Boulevard comprises three apartment blocks.

The nine-storey blocks are located next to Aljada’s main avenue. The AED180 million contract was won by Dubai-based Al Ashram Contracting, a construction company with more than 45 years of experience in building a wide range of residential, commercial, hospitality and infrastructure projects in the UAE.

Work on The Boulevard will begin immediately, and homes in the project will be handed over by the end of 2022.

Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Chairman of Arada, said, “This milestone is evidence of our determination to move forward rapidly with our construction plans at one of the UAE’s fastest-growing communities. These distinctive and high-end homes in one of the most desirable parts of Aljada have been welcomed by investors and end-users and will be a valuable addition to Sharjah’s property landscape on completion.”

Featuring around 600 units in total, The Boulevard buildings feature a range of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with a wide range of sizes and floorplans, which are targeted at singles, young couples and families. All apartments come with smart home technology added as standard, while the complex also includes a fully stocked health club and a shared swimming pool, as well as several cafes and retail outlets at ground-floor level.

Arada has already completed 465 units at seven apartment buildings in Aljada, with another seven apartment buildings and a townhouse and villa community at the project scheduled to be completed in the next few months.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, The Ministry of Finance (MoF) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Dubai SME, an integrated division of Dubai’s Department of Economic Development (Dubai Economy), to support the business sector and advance comprehensive and sustainable development in the country, Mariam Al Amiri, Under-Secretary, Financial Management Sector at MoF, and Saeed Matar Al Marri, Deputy CEO of Dubai SME, signed the MoU which seeks to support entrepreneurs and SME owners in the country.

Under the MoU, both parties will support SME owners registered within Dubai SME, by encouraging them to register in the Federal Supplier Register at MoF, so they can participate in government tenders offered by federal entities and thus contribute to the UAE’s sustainable development.

In turn, Dubai SME will encourage its accredited enterprises to register in the Federal Supplier Register and exchange the data of its registered SMEs’ owners with MoF, to enhance effective communication with them.

Al Amiri reaffirmed the ministry’s keenness to cooperate with various federal and local entities and private sector companies, to support the country’s business sector, entrepreneurs, and SME owners. This comes within the ministry’s belief in the role of these projects in diversifying the national economy and advancing comprehensive and sustainable development in the country.

He said, “At the Ministry of Finance, we are working to achieve the vision of the wise leadership to support and empower entrepreneurs and pave the way for SMEs to contribute to bolstering the national economy. During the past period, the ministry has devised sound policies and procedures to stimulate the economic movement and support the business sector in the country.”

Al Marri, in turn, stated, “SMEs play a vital role in the national economy’s sustainable development. At Dubai SME, we are committed to enhancing the capabilities of these enterprises and enabling them to be among the fundamental components in various sectors. This is in line with our wise leadership’s directives to provide the appropriate environment that supports business continuity, especially for SMEs. We are pleased to cooperate with the Ministry of Finance to provide local start-ups and SMEs with new opportunities and take part in government tenders.”

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, The Ministry of Economy (MoE) is conducting an extensive inspection campaign targeting establishments belonging to the Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) sector to ensure their compliance with the regulations approved for countering money laundering and combating financing of terrorism and illegal organisations.

DNFBP establishments were allowed three months’ time to register in the two systems and to put in place due diligence procedures that enable them to file suspicious activity reports, before the end of the grace period in the beginning of May.

The inspection campaigns detected violations committed by a number of establishments by failing to register procedures and failing to adopt the necessary measures to confront money laundering. The violations committed by a large gold trading group in Dubai amounted to AED1,350,000. Three companies belonging to the group were issued fines of AED450,000 each for violations of 8 aspects of the executive regulations.

The violations included failure to adopt necessary measures and procedures to determine crime risks in the respective field of work (AED100,000); failure to reduce risks (AED100,000); failure to establish internal policies, controls and procedures commensurate with the volume of its business that would enable it to manage risks (AED50,000); failure to adopt necessary measures and procedures to reduce the identified risks according to the results of the national risk assessment or to the results of the self-assessment of the nature and volume of its work (AED50,000); failure to take the necessary measures to understand the purpose and nature of the business relationship, or not collecting information related to this purpose or when seeking information related to this purpose when needed (AED50,000).

Violations also included the failure to create an independent audit function to test the effectiveness and efficiency of internal policies, controls and procedures for combating crime (AED50,000); failure to create records to save financial transactions with clients in an irregular manner that does not allow data analysis and tracking financial operations; and failure to keep records of financial transactions and the documents related thereto for a period of five years from the date of completion of the process or the termination of the business relationship with the customer or from the date of the end of the inspection process on his facilities (AED 50,000).

The Ministry of Economy called on establishments to speed up the amendment of their conditions in order to avoid penalties stipulated by Federal Law No. 20 of 2018 on countering money laundering, combating the financing of terrorism and financing illegal organizations, and its executive regulations and related decisions, which start from AED50,000 and go up to AED5 million. The measures could even lead to the suspension of the license or closure of the facility itself, the Ministry said, indicating that a grievance could be raised against the detected violations within the legal period specified within 15 days from the date of notification of the violation in accordance with the executive regulations of the law.

Safeya Al Safi, Director of the Anti-Money Laundering Department at the Ministry of Economy, affirmed the continuation of the ministry’s campaigns to ensure that companies comply with the provisions of the Federal Law and its executive regulations. She noted that the inspection campaigns have been designed to ensure that the sector’s establishments follow the regulations in place with regard to countering money laundering, in order to ensure the safety and transparency of transactions.

Al Safi said that registration in the approved regulations and the adoption of necessary procedures is a national duty for all DNFBP establishments, as it supports the country’s efforts to counter money laundering and combat terrorist financing at the global level. These measures enhance the country’s position across relevant global indicators and contributes to strengthening global confidence in the UAE economy. She also highlighted the Ministry’s keenness to intensify communication with DNFBPs during the coming period and follow-up on the sector’s implementation of the due diligence measures following their registration in the systems approved for this matter.

The MoE provides, through its official website, all information and instructions for registration, through the following links: Link to the registration steps in the Automatic Reporting System for Sanctions Lists:

https://www.economy.gov.ae/English/aml/pages/circulars-notices.aspx Link to the measures required of companies according to the executive regulations:

https://www.economy.gov.ae/English/aml/pages/default.aspx Link to the guides provided by the Ministry on the requirements for combating money laundering:

https://www.economy.gov.ae/English/aml/pages/guides.aspx She further explained that the Ministry of Economy is uploading all the workshops on anti-money laundering and combating terrorism financing onto its official YouTube channel to enable all DNFBP companies, stakeholders and interested parties to view their content, on the link:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChqcRa_X-2nIOSzrZ8rNZVw The Ministry of Economy calls on all targeted establishments to contact it through the Ministry’s call center at 8001222 or via other official channels in case there are any inquiries related to registering in the two systems and fulfilling the required measures.

Source: Emirates News Agency