What is Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025 on anti-money laundering?
Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025 is the UAE’s principal anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and counter-proliferation financing statute. It sets out what constitutes money laundering, the preventive duties of regulated businesses, the role of supervisory authorities and the Financial Intelligence Unit, and the criminal and administrative penalties that apply. It modernises the framework to expressly cover virtual assets, digital systems and proliferation financing.
A key feature is how the offence is proven. A person is treated as having committed money laundering where they know, or where there are sufficient indications to believe, that funds are the proceeds of a predicate offence, and they then convert, conceal, acquire or use those proceeds. Knowledge may be inferred from the factual and objective circumstances, so prosecutors need not prove a conviction for the underlying predicate offence. Money laundering is an independent crime.
Legal Reference (UAE):
· Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025, Article 2 - defines the acts amounting to money laundering and confirms it as a standalone offence.
For more details, consult the full text of Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025 or seek guidance from your AML compliance officer.