KUWAIT CITY, July 19: The Ministry of Social Affairs says it will take all necessary measures to protect charity work from money laundering operations, reports Al-Qabas daily. During a workshop held under the title ‘Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and its Applications in Charitable Institutions’, Director of the Department of Charities and Foundations at the Ministry of Affairs, Abdulaziz Al-Ajmi, said the workshop targeted workers in charities and social work institutions, as well as financiers and financial controllers of charity institutions and foundations affiliated to the Ministry of Social Affairs. Al-Ajmi added the ministry is keen to develop charity organizations and work to better distribute money donations to those who deserve, indicating that the lecturers during the workshop looked into 40 recommendations submitted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Nassar Al-Shariaan, Head of the Governance and Combating Financial Crimes Department at the Insurance Regulatory Unit, told the daily, that “The sector of non-profit organizations (charities and foundations) is a humanitarian sector in which others are helped through donations, alms, zakat and other charitable matters, which result in financial operations that are transferred internationally in large amounts to carry out construction or charity projects, and these funds may be subject to violations by weak-minded officials in charge of those projects and may cover suspicious financial operations to finance terrorist or other related operations.

Al-Shariaan added, “Because of the importance of this sector in the field of combating money laundering and terrorist financing, the FATF made a special recommendation for it.” Deputy Director of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Department at the Ministry of Interior, Fahd Al-Dakhil, affirmed that the ministry is keen to provide community awareness and preserve the country’s reputation at local and international levels. “The workshop was held in partnership with the International Islamic Charitable Organization to develop and tighten control over charitable societies, especially as “we are about to evaluate Kuwait next November,” said Al-Shariaan.