CENTRAL BANK OF UAE AML & SUSPICIOUS CASE UNIT ISSUES ALERT AND FREEZE ORDER

The Anti-money Laundering and Suspicious Case Unit of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has issued a Circular* requiring that accounts and investments of three named individuals be frozen, under the orders of the Public Prosecutor of Dubai. While I can find no public announcement of financial crime charges, one should assume that there is an active investigation in progress. Whether they are fugitives from justice is not known.

The individuals named are as follows. Remember that there will always be variations in the spelling of Arabic names in English:

(1) Samar Elyas Assaf: Said to be a Lebanese female bank executive. I note that there is an a Samar Assaf who works in the UAE at HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd., but am unable to confirm that she is the same individual as the one mentioned in the Alert.

(2) Armin Esmail: Said to be a US resident, and an executive director at a property firm. Court records show that an individual with this name was convicted twice in the US, on narcotics charges, and unsuccessfully fought his subsequent removal from America. Again, no confirmation is available. See possibly an alias: Armin Eivanaki Esmaili.

(3) Haseeb Khan Israfeel Khan: listed as a Pakistani national. No further information is available.

Should any of these individuals have accounts at your bank, it is humbly suggested that you contact your bank counsel forthwith.
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* Circular 246/2013 .