This study has addressed the work of the Financial Follow-up Unit in charge of anti-money laundering in Palestine. According to the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Law, this unit has multi powers to follow up these crimes. And because its practices need a high degree of accuracy, it has a fully-fledged legal regulation that gives it a proper umbrella in doing these responsibilities. Against this background, this study has sought to explain how the Palestinian law has regulated the work of this unit. To that end, the researcher has perused the counterpart regulations in other countries and compared them with the ones in Palestine in order to develop the current regulations. It’s worth noting that this Unit was established in Palestine as a response to an international request which called for the formation of an authority to fight money laundering crimes. The Palestinian National Authority enacted the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Law in 2015 to regulate the unit’s work. The Palestinian cabinet also issued Resolution 7 in 2018 which included the Executive Regulations to regulate the unit’s powers and competencies. This unit enjoys an independent entity which prevents any party from intervention in its work. However, it is under the supervision of the National Commission of Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Law. Its employees enjoy exemption from any responsibility upon assuming their work in the context of the law. The lawmaker has granted them law enforcement capacity in these crimes. They receive reports on these crimes, investigate them and collect and analyze information on them. They also prepare minutes and send them to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.  This is in addition to its powers to request the taking of precautionary measures that serve the goal of fighting money laundering crimes in the framework of international cooperation.

Key words: money laundering; Financial Follow-up Unit; fighting; unit independence; legal regulation; law enforcement; international cooperation;  search and inquiry

Title

مجلة جامعة الشارقة للعلوم القانونية

Publisher

جامعة الشارقة

Publisher Country

United Arab Emirates

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

19

Year

2022

Pages

551-583