WASHINGTON, 20 August 2003 — The United States on Monday hailed Saudi Arabia’s adoption of its first anti-money laundering law as a “very positive step” in the global war on terrorism.
“This is a very positive step,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in a written answer to a question posed at his regular news briefing.
“The United States has worked closely with the Saudis on counterterrorism finance and has encouraged them to tighten laws in order to make it more difficult for terrorists to obtain money and abuse charities,” he said.
“We are very pleased that Saudi Arabia appears to be taking effective action in this area,” Boucher said.
Earlier Monday, the Saudi government endorsed the Kingdom’s first-ever law to prevent money laundering under heavy pressure from the United States to do more to combat terrorist activity and its financing.
The law stipulates jail terms of up to 15 years and a fine of $1.86 million for those who launder money through charities or organized gangs.
The law also makes financing terrorism or terror organizations illegal and requires financial institutions to keep records of transactions for a minimum of 10 years and adopt measures to uncover and foil money laundering operations.
