Wednesday, June 22, 2011

UAE central bank orders freeze of Libyan assets

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has ordered the freeze on assets belonging to 19 Libyan individuals and institutions and expects to prepare a report on the decision within a week, an official said on Monday.

In the latest string of orders against suspicious funds belonging to individuals from ousted Middle East governments, the central bank has now instructed the country's Gulf banks to "initiate a search" into the funds of unnamed Libyans, according to Reuters.

"We have instructed banks to initiate a search and have requested them to freeze the assets," Abdulrahim Al Awadi, executive director at the UAE central bank's anti-money laundering and suspicious cases unit, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi.