Legal analysis of Qatar’santi-money laundering and combating terrorist financing legislation and regulation amidst the summer 2017 GCC crisis

Pages793-804
Date27 January 2020
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JMLC-09-2017-0054
Published date27 January 2020
AuthorMohammed Ahmad Naheem
Subject MatterAccounting & Finance,Financial risk/company failure,Financial compliance/regulation,Financial crime
Legal analysis of Qatars
anti-money laundering and
combating terrorist nancing
legislation and regulation amidst
the summer 2017 GCC crisis
Mohammed Ahmad Naheem
Department of Research, Mayfair Compliance, Frankfurt, Germany
Abstract
Purpose The recent diplomatic split betweenmembers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Qatar
with accusations of terrorist nancing(TF). This paper aims to study Qatars domestic legislations, which
specically targets money launderingand TF activities. The country has stringently worked in compliance
with international standards on combating nancing of terrorism (CFT) and anti-moneylaundering (AML)
practices by imparting autonomous power to regulatory bodies, such as the Qatar Central Bankand other
agencies.
Design/methodology/approach This paper studies independentlegislations passed under the Emirs
decree over the past decade advancingQatars AML ranking, with signicant effort in CFT regulations. The
paper also analyses the advancementin AML/CFT regulation and their validity with respect to international
standardsset by various governmental, intergovernmentaland non-prot agencies.
Findings The analysis nds Qatar in compliancewith strong AML/CFT regulations. Further, it nds the
government to have providedtransparent oversight to international organizations that attestto the ndings
of the legislative efforts. This paperdisproves claims and accusations that have possibly been presented to
the GCC and subsequently led members to abruptlyend diplomatic relations with Qatar over allegations of
TF activities,amongst others.
Originality/value The paper offers insight into Qatars legislative and regulatory advancement with
respect to the AML/CTF in the past decade. The paper also discusses Qatars legislative advancement in
relation to the evolutions of the countrysnancial system, adopting a more robust mechanism to combat
nancingof terrorismand ML.
Keywords Qatar, Gulf Cooperation Council, Anti-money laundering, Qatari legislation,
Financial intelligence units (FIUs), Combating nancing of terrorism (CFT)
Paper type Research paper
Please note that this paper was composed and submitted for review to this journal in July 2017 All
the content was current at that point in time (July 2017). The banking and regulation industries
alongside governmental policy-making have evolved greatly since July 2017, with new material from
academic research emerging. These points need to be taken into consideration when reading this
paper. The author explicitly states that this research article is not a propaganda piece and in no way
has the author received any form of funding or assistance from any party towards this piece of
research. This paper sets out an approach to extend the discussion on the Gulf region from an
independent academic perspective, employing tools that separate AML/CTF analysis from media
opinion.
Qatars anti-
money
laundering
793
Journalof Money Laundering
Control
Vol.23 No. 4, 2020
pp. 793-804
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1368-5201
DOI 10.1108/JMLC-09-2017-0054
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/1368-5201.htm

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