To read this content please select one of the options below:

An analysis of the determinants of money laundering in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Mariam Aljassmi (Department of Economics, Faculty of Management and Economics, Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjong Malim, Malaysia)
Awadh Ahmed Mohammed Gamal (Department of Economics, Faculty of Management and Economics, Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjong Malim, Malaysia)
Norasibah Abdul Jalil (Department of Economics, Faculty of Management and Economics, Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjong Malim, Malaysia)
K. Kuperan Viswanathan (Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA)

Journal of Money Laundering Control

ISSN: 1368-5201

Article publication date: 24 October 2023

Issue publication date: 14 August 2024

169

Abstract

Purpose

It is widely argued that money laundering (ML) is not a new phenomenon and the pervasiveness of ML is associated with some severe economic, social and political costs. Due to the lack of studies on the ML’s issue in the UAE, this study aims to examine the determinants of ML in the country between 1975 and 2020.

Design/methodology/approach

The autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing results demonstrate the presence of long-run relationship between ML and the selected macroeconomics variables. The analysis is validated by the dynamic ordinary least squares, the fully modified ordinary least squares and the canonical co-integration regression estimators.

Findings

The estimation result reveals that while the real estate market, outflow of money, arms procurement and size of the underground economy influences the size of ML positively, gold trade, the level of financial development and the size of economic activities are negatively associated with ML, both in the short- and long-run.

Originality/value

Up to date from a country-level analysis, no study has been devoted to the ML in UAE, except for Aljassmi et al. (2023). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the determinants of laundered money in the UAE economy. Based on these outcomes, strategies and measures which will deter the laundering of illicit funds through the real estate and gold market, remittance system, financial system and arms procurement contracts in the UAE are recommended.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI), Malaysia for supporting this research. Any error remains the authors’ responsibility.

Citation

Aljassmi, M., Gamal, A.A.M., Abdul Jalil, N. and Viswanathan, K.K. (2024), "An analysis of the determinants of money laundering in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)", Journal of Money Laundering Control, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 858-872. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMLC-09-2023-0150

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles