Anna Waterhouse, a former general counsel at Deutsche Bank, who reported suspicious activity at Kaloti, a UAE’s biggest gold refiner, to the Dubai Financial Servies Authority (DFSA) has been hit back by the same DFSA as acting without integrity. Ms Waterhouse made this known to the BBC’s Panorama on 28 October. The accusation came after the DFSA had carried out “full and fair process” and found no trace of financial crime in Kaloti system, however, Ms Waterhouse told BBC that the DFSA has failed in their investigations.
Ms Waterhouse told BBC that rather than inspecting the critical money-laundering suspicion, the financial authority has only made an effort to discredit her and was denied permission to appeal. She obliged to have legally reported the company after her colleague at Deutsche Bank notified her about a large sum of money withdrawn by Kaloti and transported in wheelbarrow, and it was discovered by a joint investigation by BBC Panorama and the French Media Agency Premieres Lignes years after that Kaloti used the fund to purchase 3.6 tonnes of gold from a gang that laundered money from the sale of illegal drugs all over Europe.
Ms Waterhouse said that the investigation turned to Deutsche Bank’s Dubai office instead and DFSA found that the bank had violated some regulations in a separate case, and Ms Waterhouse was the only manager sanctioned. For 6 years, she has been fighting the case, and after the publication of the DFSA’s decision, the Dubai court has awarded legal costs against her, which will be about tens of thousands of pounds. However, Ms Waterhouse said the hearing of her case was staffed and paid for by the DFSA. “The process is inherently unfair,” she said.
