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  • Section 1 Provisional Measures

    • Article (46)

      1. The Governor, or whoever is acting in his place, shall order the Freezing of funds, which are suspected to be linked to the Crime, with Financial Institutions licensed by the Central Bank for a period of no more than (7) seven working days, in the case of the FIU’s requests based on its analysis of STRs and other information received.
         
      2. The FIU shall, in the event of taking the decision mentioned in Clause (1) of this Article, do the following:
         
        1. Notify the concerned Financial Institution to perform the Freezing order without prior notice to the owner of the funds.
           
        2. Notify the public prosecutor, in case the Governor requests extending the Freezing order, including the justifications of such extension.
           
      3. The FIU, after presenting to the Governor, shall notify the concerned Financial Institution of the cancelation of the Freezing order in case the public prosecutor refuses the extension or after expiry of the period specified in Clause (1) of this Article without receiving a response from the public prosecutor
         
      4. The Financial Institution, which holds the frozen funds, shall notify the owner of the frozen funds of the Freezing order and its sources, and shall request the owner to provide the required documents that prove the legitimacy of the source of these funds and refer these documents to the FIU to take the required actions.
         
      5. The Governor shall submit a proposal to the public prosecutor to cancel the extension of the Freezing order once there are no grounds to such freeze in order for the public prosecutor to take actions as he deems appropriate.
         
      6. The fund freezing orders shall not be executed by Financial Institutions licensed by the Central Bank unless they are issued by it.
         
    • Article (47)

      1. The Public Prosecution and the competent court shall, as the case may be, order the identification, tracing, and valuation of the Funds, Proceeds and Means under suspicion, or their equivalent value, or order their Seizing or Freezing, if they were the result of or linked to the Crime, and that is without prior notice to the owner, and shall issue a travel ban for the owner until the completion of the investigation or trial.
         
      2. The Public Prosecution or the competent court shall, as the case may be and when deemed necessary, take decisions to prevent the dealing with or disposing of such Funds, Proceeds or Means, and take the necessary measures to prevent any action intended to evade the Freezing and Seizing order issued in that regard, without violating the rights of bona fide third parties.
         
      3. Any interested party shall have the right to contest the public prosecution’s Freezing or Seizing decision before the competent court of first instance, which is located within the jurisdiction of the order public, or the competent court specialised in criminal claims.
         
      4. The contest shall be submitted as a report to the competent court. The president of the court shall, then, schedule a hearing session with the knowledge of the defendant, and the public prosecution shall be required to lodge a memorandum with its opinion on the defendant’s grievance. The court then issues its final decision within a period of no more than 14 working days as of the date of submission of the appeal.
         
      5. The decision to dismiss the contest request is not subject to appeal; if the contest was rejected, it is not permissible to lodge a new contest except after a duration of three months from the date of rejecting the contest, unless a serious reason occurs before the period passes.
         
    • Article (48)

      The public prosecution and the competent court shall, as the case may be, appoint whomever they deem suitable to manage the seized and frozen Funds, Proceeds and Means or those subject to Confiscation, and permit them to dispose or sell the Funds, Proceeds and Means in public auction, even before the issuance of the verdict, if necessary, if they are concerned about their depreciation or devaluation over time. The amount of the sale shall be deposited in the State’s treasury in the event of a final verdict of conviction. Such funds shall remain within the limits of their value for any rights legitimately determined to any bona fide third parties.