RIYADH, 17 June 2003 — The consultative Shoura Council yesterday approved a new law stipulating stiff penalties for money laundering, the Shoura’s secretary-general, Hamoud Al-Badr, said.
The 29-article law stipulates jail terms of up to 15 years and a fine of SR7 million ($1.86 million) for those who carry out money laundering through charities or organized gangs.
The same penalty applies to offenders who use violence or arms and those who use women or children in the illegal trade.
People who abuse their public jobs to facilitate or conduct money laundering get the same punishment.
Other money laundering offenders will be penalized by a maximum of 10 years in jail and a fine of $1.3 million, according to the new legislation.
The government, which prepared the draft law, must endorse it in order for it to become effective and be implemented 60 days later.
The bill bans conducting any commercial or financial transaction in which the parties involved are not fully identified.
The bill requires financial institutions to keep records of deals for a minimum of 10 years and adopt precautionary measures to uncover and foil money laundering operations.
The law also requires banks and financial institutions to create intelligence units to prepare reports on suspicious transactions to help minimize and detect such illegal operations.
It authorizes the Kingdom’s public prosecution to investigate and press charges in such cases.
The law allows exchange of information and judicial actions against money laundering operations with countries with which the Kingdom has official agreements.
