|
Sanctions:
November 28, 2011 - The Arab League (comprising 22 Arab
member states), of which this country is a member, has approved
imposing sanctions on Syria. These include: -
* Cutting off transactions with the Syrian central bank
* Halting funding by Arab governments for projects in Syria
* A ban on senior Syrian officials travelling to other Arab countries
* A freeze on assets related to President Bashar al-Assad's
government
The declaration also calls on Arab central banks to monitor
transfers to Syria, with the exception of remittances from Syrians
abroad.
For further information, click here
The Arab League (comprising 22 Arab member states), of which
this country is a member, has boycotted Israel in a systematic
effort to isolate Israel economically in support of the Palestinians,
however, the implementation of the boycott has varied over time
among member states..
There are three tiers to the boycott. The primary boycott prohibits
the importation of Israeli-origin goods and services into boycotting
countries. The secondary boycott prohibits individuals, as well as
private and public sector firms and organizations, in member
countries from engaging in business with any entity that does
business in Israel. The Arab League maintains a blacklist of such
firms. The tertiary boycott prohibits any
entity in a member country from doing business with a company or
individual that has business dealings with U.S. or other firms on
the Arab League blacklist.
____________________________________________________
Offshore Jurisdiction Blacklists:
Information unavailable.
____________________________________________________
US State Department Money Laundering Report - 2011:
Oman is not a regional or offshore financial center and does not
have significant money laundering or terrorist financing concerns.
Due to its location on the tip of the Strait of Hormuz, Oman is
home to a small number of smugglers operating between
Musandam, the northern-most exclave of Oman, and Iran. Trade
is generally financed in small amounts of cash. There is also a
small amount of narcotics trafficking in Oman, although the
government is proactive in tracking and prosecuting drug
traffickers. Sources of illegal proceeds are generally small and
derived from smuggling or drug trafficking activities. Hawaladars
based in Oman that have been involved with illicit transfers for
terrorist financing purposes have been closed down by Omani
authorities.
As of March 2010, Oman had a total of 17 licensed banks with
428 operating offices. In 2009, Oman’s three largest banks
accounted for 65 percent of total assets and credit, 58 percent of
total deposits and had combined assets of $23.8 billion.
DO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ENGAGE IN CURRENCY
TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS
TRAFFICKING THAT INCLUDE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF US
CURRENCY; CURRENCY DERIVED FROM ILLEGAL SALES IN
THE U.S.; OR THAT OTHERWISE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE
U.S.: NO
CRIMINALIZATION OF MONEY LAUNDERING:
“All serious crimes” approach or “list” approach to predicate
crimes: All serious crimes
Legal persons covered: criminally: YES civilly: YES
CRIMINALIZATION OF TERRORIST FINANCING:
Ability to freeze terrorist assets without delay: YES
UN lists of designated terrorists or terrorist entities distributed to
financial institutions: YES
(Please refer to the Department of State’s Country Reports on
Terrorism, which can be found here: http://www.state.
gov/s/ct/rls/crt/)
KNOW-YOUR-CUSTOMER RULES:
Covered entities: Banks; foreign exchange companies; investment
and credit companies; insurance companies; companies and
individuals providing financial services; stock and securities
brokers; real estate brokers; dealers in gold, precious metals and
stones; notary publics; lawyers and accountants
Enhanced due diligence procedures for PEPs: Foreign: NO
Domestic: NO
SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS:
Covered entities: Banks; foreign exchange companies; investment
and credit companies; insurance companies; companies and
individuals providing financial services; stock and securities
brokers; real estate brokers; dealers in gold, precious metals and
stones; notary publics; lawyers and accountants
Number of STRs received and time frame: Not available
Number of CTRs received and time frame: Not available
MONEY LAUNDERING CRIMINAL
PROSECUTIONS/CONVICTIONS:
Prosecutions: 23 in 2009
Convictions: 13 in 2009
Assets forfeited: criminally: Not available civilly: Not available
RECORDS EXCHANGE MECHANISM:
With U.S.: YES
With other governments/jurisdictions: YES
Oman is a member of the Middle East North Africa Financial
Action Task Force (MENAFATF), a FATF-style regional body.
Oman was evaluated in 2010. Once adopted, the mutual
evaluation will be found here: http://www.menafatf.org
ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES AND
COMMENTS:
The Government of Oman is steadily improving its legal system
related to AML/CFT, including a 2010 overhaul of its legislation.
Through the new AML/CFT law, Oman has retooled its legal,
regulatory and enforcement mechanisms to accord with
international standards. The Omani government is generally
transparent regarding its AML/CFT enforcement efforts, although
it does not publish information regarding suspicious transactions
and criminal prosecutions. The Omani authorities should hasten
efforts to finalize steps aimed at empowering the financial
intelligence unit to enhance its operational capability. Growing
Iranian overtures toward Oman for increased trade and
engagement may create conditions for AML/CFT concerns.
In July 2010, Oman issued Royal Decree number 79/2010, which
enacts new comprehensive AML/CFT legislation. The AML/CFT
Act consolidates Oman’s previous anti-money laundering and
terrorist financing laws, creates a national committee for
combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and codifies
Oman’s “safe harbor” and mutual legal assistance regulations.
The Act also names the Financial Investigations Unit in Royal
Oman Police, created in 2008, as the responsible entity for
enforcing AML/CFT laws and regulations.
Oman should become a party to the UN Convention against
Corruption and the UN International Convention for the
Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Narcotics Report 2011 (introduction):
No report available
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2011
(introduction):
(Tier 2)
Oman is a destination and transit country for men and women,
primarily from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the
Philippines, and Indonesia, some of whom are subjected to
conditions indicative of forced labor and, to a lesser extent, forced
prostitution. Most of these migrants travel willingly to Oman with
the expectation of employment in domestic service or as low-
skilled workers in the country’s construction, agriculture, or
service sectors. Some of them subsequently face conditions
indicative of forced labor, such as the withholding of passports
and other restrictions on movement, nonpayment of wages, long
working hours without food or rest, threats, and physical or sexual
abuse. Unscrupulous labor recruitment agencies and their sub-
agents in migrants’ original communities in South Asia, as well as
labor brokers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and Iran,
may deceive workers into accepting work that in some instances
constitutes forced labor. Many of these agencies provide false
contracts for employment either with fictitious employers or at
fictitious wages and charge workers high recruitment fees (often
exceeding $1,000) at usurious rates of interest, leaving workers
vulnerable to trafficking. Oman is also a destination and transit
country for women from China, India, Morocco, Eastern Europe,
Uganda, Kenya, and other parts of South Asia who may be forced
into commercial sexual exploitation, generally by nationals of their
own countries. Male Pakistani laborers, and others from India,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and East Asia, transit Oman en route to
the UAE; some of these migrant workers are exploited in
situations of forced labor upon reaching their destination.
The Government of Oman does not fully comply with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making
significant efforts to do so. The government continued to
prosecute sex trafficking offenders and sentence convicted
traffickers to imprisonment; the number of convictions, however,
declined from the last reporting period and did not include any
criminal punishment of labor trafficking offenses. The government
improved its victim protection efforts by opening a permanent
shelter for victims of trafficking and began assisting victims there.
The government also created a criminal division within its court
system specifically to address trafficking cases and appointed
specialized judges and prosecutors to oversee these cases.
During the reporting period, the Public Prosecution and Royal
Oman Police received training in trafficking victim identification.
Nonetheless, Omani authorities continued to lack comprehensive
formal procedures to proactively identify trafficking victims among
those detained for immigration violations. As a result, the
government may not have adequately identified victims of forced
labor or punished their traffickers.
For full report click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Terrorism Report 2010
2010 Terrorist Incidents: There were no terrorist attacks within
Oman’s land borders in 2010. On July 28, the Japanese tanker M
Star was damaged in a terrorist attack by a water borne
improvised explosive device (WBIED) while transiting the Strait of
Hormuz. All major, navigable shipping lanes in the Strait were in
Oman’s territorial waters. The Abdullah Azzam Brigade claimed
responsibility for the attack, which resulted in no injuries and
minor damage to the ship.
Legislation and Law Enforcement: Oman took significant steps
during the year to improve border security, as demonstrated by a
number of training and border security workshops that were
conducted in Oman.
Countering Terrorist Finance: Oman is not a regional or offshore
financial center and did not have significant money laundering or
terrorist financing concerns. The Omani government is generally
transparent regarding its anti-money laundering and
counterterrorist financing enforcement efforts. As a charter
member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task
Force (MENAFATF), Oman participated in mutual Financial Action
Task Force (FATF) evaluations, and enacted anti-money
laundering/counterterrorist financing (AML/CTF) legislation largely
based on recommendations following a FATF evaluation. Oman’s
first FATF mutual evaluation was completed in summer 2010. The
report had not been released at year’s end. Oman is steadily
improving its legal system related to AML/CTF. Notable progress
was made in 2010, including an overhaul of its AML/CTF
legislation. In July, Oman issued Royal Decree number 79/2010,
which enacted new comprehensive AML/CTF legislation. This act
consolidated Oman’s previous AML/CTF laws, created a national
committee for combating money laundering and terrorist
financing, and codified Oman’s “safe harbor”, which provides
protection to those who provide otherwise confidential banking
data to authorities in pursuit of authorized investigations, and
mutual legal assistance regulations.
____________________________________________________
Links:
Worldwide AML Legislation (International Bar Association)
November 28, 2011 - The Arab League (comprising 22 Arab
member states), of which this country is a member, has approved
imposing sanctions on Syria. These include: -
* Cutting off transactions with the Syrian central bank
* Halting funding by Arab governments for projects in Syria
* A ban on senior Syrian officials travelling to other Arab countries
* A freeze on assets related to President Bashar al-Assad's
government
The declaration also calls on Arab central banks to monitor
transfers to Syria, with the exception of remittances from Syrians
abroad.
For further information, click here
The Arab League (comprising 22 Arab member states), of which
this country is a member, has boycotted Israel in a systematic
effort to isolate Israel economically in support of the Palestinians,
however, the implementation of the boycott has varied over time
among member states..
There are three tiers to the boycott. The primary boycott prohibits
the importation of Israeli-origin goods and services into boycotting
countries. The secondary boycott prohibits individuals, as well as
private and public sector firms and organizations, in member
countries from engaging in business with any entity that does
business in Israel. The Arab League maintains a blacklist of such
firms. The tertiary boycott prohibits any
entity in a member country from doing business with a company or
individual that has business dealings with U.S. or other firms on
the Arab League blacklist.
____________________________________________________
Offshore Jurisdiction Blacklists:
Information unavailable.
____________________________________________________
US State Department Money Laundering Report - 2011:
Oman is not a regional or offshore financial center and does not
have significant money laundering or terrorist financing concerns.
Due to its location on the tip of the Strait of Hormuz, Oman is
home to a small number of smugglers operating between
Musandam, the northern-most exclave of Oman, and Iran. Trade
is generally financed in small amounts of cash. There is also a
small amount of narcotics trafficking in Oman, although the
government is proactive in tracking and prosecuting drug
traffickers. Sources of illegal proceeds are generally small and
derived from smuggling or drug trafficking activities. Hawaladars
based in Oman that have been involved with illicit transfers for
terrorist financing purposes have been closed down by Omani
authorities.
As of March 2010, Oman had a total of 17 licensed banks with
428 operating offices. In 2009, Oman’s three largest banks
accounted for 65 percent of total assets and credit, 58 percent of
total deposits and had combined assets of $23.8 billion.
DO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ENGAGE IN CURRENCY
TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS
TRAFFICKING THAT INCLUDE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF US
CURRENCY; CURRENCY DERIVED FROM ILLEGAL SALES IN
THE U.S.; OR THAT OTHERWISE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE
U.S.: NO
CRIMINALIZATION OF MONEY LAUNDERING:
“All serious crimes” approach or “list” approach to predicate
crimes: All serious crimes
Legal persons covered: criminally: YES civilly: YES
CRIMINALIZATION OF TERRORIST FINANCING:
Ability to freeze terrorist assets without delay: YES
UN lists of designated terrorists or terrorist entities distributed to
financial institutions: YES
(Please refer to the Department of State’s Country Reports on
Terrorism, which can be found here: http://www.state.
gov/s/ct/rls/crt/)
KNOW-YOUR-CUSTOMER RULES:
Covered entities: Banks; foreign exchange companies; investment
and credit companies; insurance companies; companies and
individuals providing financial services; stock and securities
brokers; real estate brokers; dealers in gold, precious metals and
stones; notary publics; lawyers and accountants
Enhanced due diligence procedures for PEPs: Foreign: NO
Domestic: NO
SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS:
Covered entities: Banks; foreign exchange companies; investment
and credit companies; insurance companies; companies and
individuals providing financial services; stock and securities
brokers; real estate brokers; dealers in gold, precious metals and
stones; notary publics; lawyers and accountants
Number of STRs received and time frame: Not available
Number of CTRs received and time frame: Not available
MONEY LAUNDERING CRIMINAL
PROSECUTIONS/CONVICTIONS:
Prosecutions: 23 in 2009
Convictions: 13 in 2009
Assets forfeited: criminally: Not available civilly: Not available
RECORDS EXCHANGE MECHANISM:
With U.S.: YES
With other governments/jurisdictions: YES
Oman is a member of the Middle East North Africa Financial
Action Task Force (MENAFATF), a FATF-style regional body.
Oman was evaluated in 2010. Once adopted, the mutual
evaluation will be found here: http://www.menafatf.org
ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES AND
COMMENTS:
The Government of Oman is steadily improving its legal system
related to AML/CFT, including a 2010 overhaul of its legislation.
Through the new AML/CFT law, Oman has retooled its legal,
regulatory and enforcement mechanisms to accord with
international standards. The Omani government is generally
transparent regarding its AML/CFT enforcement efforts, although
it does not publish information regarding suspicious transactions
and criminal prosecutions. The Omani authorities should hasten
efforts to finalize steps aimed at empowering the financial
intelligence unit to enhance its operational capability. Growing
Iranian overtures toward Oman for increased trade and
engagement may create conditions for AML/CFT concerns.
In July 2010, Oman issued Royal Decree number 79/2010, which
enacts new comprehensive AML/CFT legislation. The AML/CFT
Act consolidates Oman’s previous anti-money laundering and
terrorist financing laws, creates a national committee for
combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and codifies
Oman’s “safe harbor” and mutual legal assistance regulations.
The Act also names the Financial Investigations Unit in Royal
Oman Police, created in 2008, as the responsible entity for
enforcing AML/CFT laws and regulations.
Oman should become a party to the UN Convention against
Corruption and the UN International Convention for the
Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Narcotics Report 2011 (introduction):
No report available
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2011
(introduction):
(Tier 2)
Oman is a destination and transit country for men and women,
primarily from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the
Philippines, and Indonesia, some of whom are subjected to
conditions indicative of forced labor and, to a lesser extent, forced
prostitution. Most of these migrants travel willingly to Oman with
the expectation of employment in domestic service or as low-
skilled workers in the country’s construction, agriculture, or
service sectors. Some of them subsequently face conditions
indicative of forced labor, such as the withholding of passports
and other restrictions on movement, nonpayment of wages, long
working hours without food or rest, threats, and physical or sexual
abuse. Unscrupulous labor recruitment agencies and their sub-
agents in migrants’ original communities in South Asia, as well as
labor brokers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and Iran,
may deceive workers into accepting work that in some instances
constitutes forced labor. Many of these agencies provide false
contracts for employment either with fictitious employers or at
fictitious wages and charge workers high recruitment fees (often
exceeding $1,000) at usurious rates of interest, leaving workers
vulnerable to trafficking. Oman is also a destination and transit
country for women from China, India, Morocco, Eastern Europe,
Uganda, Kenya, and other parts of South Asia who may be forced
into commercial sexual exploitation, generally by nationals of their
own countries. Male Pakistani laborers, and others from India,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and East Asia, transit Oman en route to
the UAE; some of these migrant workers are exploited in
situations of forced labor upon reaching their destination.
The Government of Oman does not fully comply with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making
significant efforts to do so. The government continued to
prosecute sex trafficking offenders and sentence convicted
traffickers to imprisonment; the number of convictions, however,
declined from the last reporting period and did not include any
criminal punishment of labor trafficking offenses. The government
improved its victim protection efforts by opening a permanent
shelter for victims of trafficking and began assisting victims there.
The government also created a criminal division within its court
system specifically to address trafficking cases and appointed
specialized judges and prosecutors to oversee these cases.
During the reporting period, the Public Prosecution and Royal
Oman Police received training in trafficking victim identification.
Nonetheless, Omani authorities continued to lack comprehensive
formal procedures to proactively identify trafficking victims among
those detained for immigration violations. As a result, the
government may not have adequately identified victims of forced
labor or punished their traffickers.
For full report click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Terrorism Report 2010
2010 Terrorist Incidents: There were no terrorist attacks within
Oman’s land borders in 2010. On July 28, the Japanese tanker M
Star was damaged in a terrorist attack by a water borne
improvised explosive device (WBIED) while transiting the Strait of
Hormuz. All major, navigable shipping lanes in the Strait were in
Oman’s territorial waters. The Abdullah Azzam Brigade claimed
responsibility for the attack, which resulted in no injuries and
minor damage to the ship.
Legislation and Law Enforcement: Oman took significant steps
during the year to improve border security, as demonstrated by a
number of training and border security workshops that were
conducted in Oman.
Countering Terrorist Finance: Oman is not a regional or offshore
financial center and did not have significant money laundering or
terrorist financing concerns. The Omani government is generally
transparent regarding its anti-money laundering and
counterterrorist financing enforcement efforts. As a charter
member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task
Force (MENAFATF), Oman participated in mutual Financial Action
Task Force (FATF) evaluations, and enacted anti-money
laundering/counterterrorist financing (AML/CTF) legislation largely
based on recommendations following a FATF evaluation. Oman’s
first FATF mutual evaluation was completed in summer 2010. The
report had not been released at year’s end. Oman is steadily
improving its legal system related to AML/CTF. Notable progress
was made in 2010, including an overhaul of its AML/CTF
legislation. In July, Oman issued Royal Decree number 79/2010,
which enacted new comprehensive AML/CTF legislation. This act
consolidated Oman’s previous AML/CTF laws, created a national
committee for combating money laundering and terrorist
financing, and codified Oman’s “safe harbor”, which provides
protection to those who provide otherwise confidential banking
data to authorities in pursuit of authorized investigations, and
mutual legal assistance regulations.
____________________________________________________
Links:
Worldwide AML Legislation (International Bar Association)
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*Please note that FATF deems that a country has significant aml deficiencies if
any of the 'Core' Recommendations, R1, R5, R10, R13, SRII, or SRIV are rated
either Partially of Non-Compliant. These are marked in red.
For FATF to remove a country from the regular follow-up process, it has to be rated
Compliant or Largely Compliant in the above mentioned Core Recommendations
and the following Key Recommendations: -
R3, R4, R23, R26, R35, R36, R40, SRI, SRIII, SRV
Please also note that any risk assessment should take into consideration all
follow-up reports.
any of the 'Core' Recommendations, R1, R5, R10, R13, SRII, or SRIV are rated
either Partially of Non-Compliant. These are marked in red.
For FATF to remove a country from the regular follow-up process, it has to be rated
Compliant or Largely Compliant in the above mentioned Core Recommendations
and the following Key Recommendations: -
R3, R4, R23, R26, R35, R36, R40, SRI, SRIII, SRV
Please also note that any risk assessment should take into consideration all
follow-up reports.
______________________________________________________________
Key Findings from 2011 Mutual Evaluation Report
The Sultanate of Oman has set up an AML/CFT system that is
essentially in line with the international standards.
The new AML/CFT law, enacted in July of 2010, was concluded by the
assessment team to be robust. While this new AML/CFT law has been
in force since last year, the 2004 Executive Regulations are still in
force as Oman currently finalizes the new draft of the Executive
Regulations to correspond to the new law. This pending legal update
has caused some gaps in the legal framework for preventive
measures. Notwithstanding the remaining shortcomings, the overall
legal compliance with the FATF Recommendations is high. However,
the effectiveness of the legal system and the related institutional law
enforcement framework was noted to be lacking in some areas.
Legal framework
Oman has criminalized money laundering, to a large extent in line with
the requirements under the Vienna and Palermo Conventions.
However, the money laundering offense does not cover "the
concealment or disguise of the disposition of property" and the criminal
liability for ML does not extend to all legal persons. Moreover,
questions can be raised in regard to effective implementation due to
the extremely low number of convictions for money laundering.
Oman's legislation provides for most of the elements needed to
criminalize terrorist financing. However, the terrorist financing offence
does not cover the financing of an individual terrorist, and the
definition of terrorist act is not fully consistent with the Terrorist
Financing Convention. Effectiveness could not be established since
there has been no investigations, prosecutions or convictions relating
to terrorist financing.
Oman has in place a robust legal framework that provides for a wide
range of confiscation, seizure and provisional measures. However,
the low number of confiscations indicates that the effectiveness of the
framework is still insufficient. As for the freezing of terrorist assets in
relation to the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, Oman has no
laws and procedures in place to implement UNSCR 1373, and
although names of designated persons under UNSCR 1267 are
circulated to concerned parties, there are gaps in the legal framework
and no procedures are in place to implement most of UNSCR 1267
and successor resolutions.
Law enforcement
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and its predecessors within the
Royal Oman Police have been receiving suspicious transaction reports
(STRs) since 2002. The FIU has been in existence for several years,
and has only recently made progress in functioning in an effective
manner, shown by considerably more disseminations of STRs in 2010
than in the previous 3 years. Yet, the time spent by the FIU on
analyzing STRs should be improved as several investigations have
shown to take a long time. The FIU should continue the positive
improvements by further enhancing its capacity and experience in
analyzing STRs to expedite the time between the reporting and
dissemination of an STR.
The Royal Omani Police and the Public Prosecution Office are
empowered to conduct money laundering and terrorist financing
investigations. Both are sufficiently resourced to perform their tasks
and have adequate powers.
Financial Institutions (FIs) and Designated Non-Financial Businesses
and Professions (DNFBPs)
Both the Central Bank of Oman and Capital Markets Authority have
sufficient powers and financial resources to conduct their supervisory
activities. While the assessment team commends the authorities'
strong efforts in overseeing their reporting entities, it also noticed very
low levels of corrective measures applied by both supervisory
agencies. Only one administrative penalty has been imposed so far
for an AML/CFT violation. Both authorities need to utilize its full
sanctioning powers for violation of AML/CFT requirements.
The pending update of the Executive Regulation causes some gaps in
the legal framework for preventive measures for FIs, especially
regarding customer due diligence measures. Oman should
expeditiously finalise the drafting of the Executive Regulation to
address the remaining shortcomings in the preventive area.
Deficiencies identified in FIs' obligations apply equally to the DNFBPs
sectors. The effectiviness of the framework for DNFBPs is generally
rather limited, mainly due to the recent enactment of the AML/CFT
Law, and low money laundering/terrorist financing risk perception by
the businesses that are covered.
Click here for Report
Key Findings from 2011 Mutual Evaluation Report
The Sultanate of Oman has set up an AML/CFT system that is
essentially in line with the international standards.
The new AML/CFT law, enacted in July of 2010, was concluded by the
assessment team to be robust. While this new AML/CFT law has been
in force since last year, the 2004 Executive Regulations are still in
force as Oman currently finalizes the new draft of the Executive
Regulations to correspond to the new law. This pending legal update
has caused some gaps in the legal framework for preventive
measures. Notwithstanding the remaining shortcomings, the overall
legal compliance with the FATF Recommendations is high. However,
the effectiveness of the legal system and the related institutional law
enforcement framework was noted to be lacking in some areas.
Legal framework
Oman has criminalized money laundering, to a large extent in line with
the requirements under the Vienna and Palermo Conventions.
However, the money laundering offense does not cover "the
concealment or disguise of the disposition of property" and the criminal
liability for ML does not extend to all legal persons. Moreover,
questions can be raised in regard to effective implementation due to
the extremely low number of convictions for money laundering.
Oman's legislation provides for most of the elements needed to
criminalize terrorist financing. However, the terrorist financing offence
does not cover the financing of an individual terrorist, and the
definition of terrorist act is not fully consistent with the Terrorist
Financing Convention. Effectiveness could not be established since
there has been no investigations, prosecutions or convictions relating
to terrorist financing.
Oman has in place a robust legal framework that provides for a wide
range of confiscation, seizure and provisional measures. However,
the low number of confiscations indicates that the effectiveness of the
framework is still insufficient. As for the freezing of terrorist assets in
relation to the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, Oman has no
laws and procedures in place to implement UNSCR 1373, and
although names of designated persons under UNSCR 1267 are
circulated to concerned parties, there are gaps in the legal framework
and no procedures are in place to implement most of UNSCR 1267
and successor resolutions.
Law enforcement
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and its predecessors within the
Royal Oman Police have been receiving suspicious transaction reports
(STRs) since 2002. The FIU has been in existence for several years,
and has only recently made progress in functioning in an effective
manner, shown by considerably more disseminations of STRs in 2010
than in the previous 3 years. Yet, the time spent by the FIU on
analyzing STRs should be improved as several investigations have
shown to take a long time. The FIU should continue the positive
improvements by further enhancing its capacity and experience in
analyzing STRs to expedite the time between the reporting and
dissemination of an STR.
The Royal Omani Police and the Public Prosecution Office are
empowered to conduct money laundering and terrorist financing
investigations. Both are sufficiently resourced to perform their tasks
and have adequate powers.
Financial Institutions (FIs) and Designated Non-Financial Businesses
and Professions (DNFBPs)
Both the Central Bank of Oman and Capital Markets Authority have
sufficient powers and financial resources to conduct their supervisory
activities. While the assessment team commends the authorities'
strong efforts in overseeing their reporting entities, it also noticed very
low levels of corrective measures applied by both supervisory
agencies. Only one administrative penalty has been imposed so far
for an AML/CFT violation. Both authorities need to utilize its full
sanctioning powers for violation of AML/CFT requirements.
The pending update of the Executive Regulation causes some gaps in
the legal framework for preventive measures for FIs, especially
regarding customer due diligence measures. Oman should
expeditiously finalise the drafting of the Executive Regulation to
address the remaining shortcomings in the preventive area.
Deficiencies identified in FIs' obligations apply equally to the DNFBPs
sectors. The effectiviness of the framework for DNFBPs is generally
rather limited, mainly due to the recent enactment of the AML/CFT
Law, and low money laundering/terrorist financing risk perception by
the businesses that are covered.
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| Last Updated: 16 April 2012 |