Hamid bin Rashid Issues Ajman Accountability Law No. 6 of 2026

His Highness Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Ajman, has issued Law No. 6 of 2026 on the Ajman Accountability Authority, establishing it as the emirate's highest body for oversight, accountability, and the promotion of integrity, transparency, and the protection of public funds.

The law stipulates that the Authority shall have legal personality and financial and administrative independence, and shall report directly to His Highness the Ruler of Ajman. It is the legal successor to the Ajman Financial Audit Authority, inheriting all of the former authority's rights, assets, and obligations.

The Authority aims to protect public funds by ensuring the efficiency, effectiveness, and economical use of public resources, to enhance the quality and effectiveness of audit work provided to entities subject to its oversight, and to strengthen the principles of governance, transparency, accountability, and integrity, as well as to combat financial and administrative corruption in all its forms.

Under the law, His Highness Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, Crown Prince of Ajman, shall serve as Chairman of the Authority. The law also provides for the appointment of a Director-General of the Authority by an Emiri decree issued by the Ruler; the Director-General shall be accountable to the Chairman and shall be responsible for managing the Authority and verifying that the executive management carries out all the tasks and powers entrusted to the Authority under this law.

The law defines the Authority's mandates, including auditing the emirate government's consolidated financial statements and issuing opinions on them, verifying that entities subject to its oversight comply with legislation, policies, and regulations, as well as examining and assessing the efficiency of internal control systems, information and communication technology systems, and smart systems, in addition to reviewing performance and risk.

The law also adds mandates concerning the regulation of the mechanism by which entities subject to its oversight engage licensed audit firms to carry out auditing or tax services, or any other professional services related to the Authority's work, as well as receiving, examining, and investigating reports of financial and administrative corruption, in addition to representing the emirate government before federal and local bodies and organizations concerned with oversight and combating financial and administrative corruption.

The law grants the Authority powers enabling it to carry out its tasks, including requesting information, documents, and data; accessing the documents, records, and electronic systems of entities subject to its oversight and retaining copies of them; entering the premises of entities subject to its oversight to conduct oversight work without the need for prior authorization, in accordance with the provisions of the law and applicable legislation; as well as requesting any data, clarifications, or disclosures necessary to investigate incidents of financial and administrative corruption.

The Authority's oversight covers local government entities, public authorities and institutions, free zones, councils, general secretariats, centres, offices, and funds, and all public legal persons affiliated with the Ajman government, in addition to companies, institutions, and economic projects owned by the government or in which the government or entities subject to its oversight hold a stake of not less than 25%.

The law includes provisions to strengthen integrity and combat financial and administrative corruption, protect and reward whistleblowers and witnesses, refrain from disclosing their identity or any information indicating it, and ensure they are not subjected to discrimination or mistreatment as a result of reporting or testifying.

The law also sets out provisions on exemption from and mitigation of penalties, and the settlement and recovery of public funds in the public interest, in accordance with the procedures set out in the law and the anti-corruption procedures regulation.

The law sets penalties for obstructing the Authority's work, including imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year and a fine of not less than AED 10,000 and not more than AED 1 million, or either of these two penalties, in the cases specified by the law.

The law repeals Emiri Decree No. 5 of 2017 on the Ajman Financial Audit Authority, while the regulations, bylaws, and decisions issued under it shall remain in effect insofar as they do not conflict with the provisions of the new law, pending the issuance of its implementing regulations and decisions.

The law shall come into effect from its date of issuance and shall be published in the Official Gazette.

Source: Emirates News Agency (WAM)