Anti-money laundering law to be amended

Manama : The Cabinet meeting chaired by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa yesterday approved a draft bill that seeks to amend the  Law on Prevention and Prohibition of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism.

The bill stipulates that collecting, giving or allocating any funds, property, proceeds or support by any means an individual or groups engaged in terrorist activity shall be punishable by the law. The bill, which proposes to amend Article 3 of Decree-Law 4/2001, has been referred to the Legislature in accordance with the constitutional and legal procedures in force.

Re-planning

HRH Premier  also gave directives to study the re-planning and development of some regions in the Kingdom to ensure easy access to basic services especially in  emergency situations and link them to a network of various government services. The matter has been referred to the High Urban Planning Committee.

Terror attacks condemned

The Cabinet session strongly condemned the terror attack which targeted a bus carrying Coptic Christians in the Minya Province in Egypt, which left 28 people dead and several wounded on Friday.

The Cabinet reiterated the Kingdom’s support to Egypt’s government and people, supporting all measures taken to combat terrorism.

The session also denounced the terror attack in Manchester in UK which left dozens dead and several injured, describing it as a “horrific terrorist act”.

The cabinet reiterated the Kingdom of Bahrain’s empathy with UK and supported the measures taken by the government to fight terrorism.

Cabinet decisions

HRH Prime Minister has given instructions to allocate a specific percentage of the government’s purchases to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to support them, and requested the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism to submit a proposal in this regard in coordination with the Tender Board.

HRH Prime Minister has directed all ministries to pay their financial obligations to institutions and companies according to schedule, and to avoid entering into any financial obligations that exceed their allocated budgets.

The cabinet has okayed both the Consolidated Final Account of the State for fiscal 2016, which had been audited by the National Audit Office and a report on the implementation of the state budget. These will be referred to the Legislative branch as stipulated by the Constitution and the General State Budget Law.

The cabinet has reduced the  fee for resuming a cancelled lawsuit from BD50 to BD20. In this regard, it approved a draft-law on amending Edict 54/2016, in light of the memoranda submitted by the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs and Rationalising Expenditure, and the Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments.