The Licensed Person must implement procedures, controls, systems and tools for its employees to internally disclose all suspected cases of ML/FT directly to the Compliance Officer or to an appropriate member of the compliance department without any interference from the Manager in Charge or any other employee of the Licensed Person;
b)
All internal disclosures must be thoroughly investigated to confirm if there are reasonable grounds for suspicion;
c)
If the investigation of an internal disclosure does not reveal reasonable grounds for suspicion, then the Compliance Officer may decide either to close the case or keep it open for future monitoring; and
d)
The Compliance Officer must retain documentary evidence regarding all internal disclosures, details of investigations undertaken and reasons for closing a case or keeping the case open for future monitoring under watch list or for reporting to the FIU.
16.26.2
External Reporting to the FIU:
a)
The Licensed Person must file without any delay an STR or SAR or other report types with the FIU using the “goAML” portal when they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a transaction, attempted transaction, or funds constitute, in whole or in part, regardless of the amount, the proceeds of crime, are related to a crime, or are intended to be used in a crime.
b)
The Licensed Person must take into account all information from both the ordering and beneficiary sides in order to determine whether an STR or SAR is to be filed.
c)
Procedures and controls must be implemented to ensure timely reporting of suspected cases to the FIU;
d)
The Licensed Person must comply with all directions of the FIU in relation to STRs and SARs submitted to them;
e)
The Licensed Person must keep appropriate records of STRs and SARs reported to the FIU; as required by paragraph 16.29.6 of this Chapter and
f)
As stated in Paragraph 16.25.6 of this Chapter, where a transaction is subject to the UN or UAE sanctions, the Licensed Person must immediately and without prior notice freeze the funds. Where a Licensed Person suspects that a transaction is related to the financing of terrorism and illegal organisations, the Licensed Person must report the transaction to the FIU within 24 hours.