Money laundering in Yemen workshop begins [Archives:2003/694/Local News]

Ridhwan Al-Saqqaf
Meetings of the 4-day workshop on fighting money laundering in Yemen, organized by the Central Bank of Yemen in cooperation with the National Bank and the Banking Studies Institute, were commenced in Aden Saturday and was attended by more than 300 participants representing banks, currency exchange companies, insurance companies, judiciary, prosecution, security bodies, taxes and customs authority, general authority for investment and the free zone authority. The workshop was held under patronage of the governor of Aden Dr Yahya Mohammed al-Shuaibi. The Central Bank of Yemen was represented by the mayor Ahmed Abdulrahman al-Samawi and the National Bank of Yemen by its chairman of board of directors, the general manager Abdulrahman al-Kuhali.
The workshop aims at informing the participants on the concept of money laundering and ways of tackling it as well as the its impact on economic, political, banking, monetary and legal fields. It also aims at informing the participants on the law No. 35 for the year 2003 regarding fighting of money laundering and its requirements. The participants are also to be acquainted with the international, regional and local laws pertaining money laundering in addition to international criteria to measure the extent of countries' cooperation in this respect and role of the banking sector in fighting money laundering.
At the beginning of the opening session Mr Abdulrahman al-Kuhali delivered a speech on the importance of holding such symposiums and workshops for defining the real concept of money laundering and how to fight it through banks and financial establishments. He pointed out that the workshop was meant for disseminating awareness on topic especially after the issuance of the law 35 that incriminated the process of money laundering.
On the other hand the mayor of the Central Bank of Yemen Ahmed Abdurahman al-Samawi said in his address to the meeting that its convening in Aden had a special implication as the governorate is the economic capital of Yemen in addition to its being organised by the Banking Studies Institute, in cooperation with CBY as part of a training program for the year 2003. He had also reviewed the successes achieved by the banking activity in Yemen and the commercial and government banks, putting stress on the National Bank of Yemen that had occupied the first place with regard of clients deposits that amounted to YR23 billion. Mr al-Samawi also said the Central bank of Yemen is fully independent and its laws are easy ones and that texts of the laws set up by the bank according to international criteria helped the score of successes.
The workshop discussions are divided over four premises:
-the political and economic international axis,
– legal axis,
-banking and financial axis,
-information and security axis
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