Teacher confesses to fraud, money laundering

JEDDAH: The Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution in the Eastern Province has charged a teacher with seven counts of fraud and money laundering.
A local newspaper stated that the teacher had collected approximately SR6 million over a period of six months by swindling 30 of her colleagues by convincing them to invest their savings in a company headquartered outside the Kingdom.
According to the data provided by the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution, the accused teacher promised her colleagues that they would begin receiving payments no later than one week from the date of their investments. She was thus able to get the numbers of their bank accounts and copies of their IDs.
To assist her in her scheme, she showed the female victims pictures and clips on her phone of financial receipts which stated that her profits from investing in the company were SR1.8 million; she asked them not to tell anyone.
During the investigation, the teacher confessed that she had obtained more than SR3 million from her fellow teachers and friends. She also admitted that she had lied to the bank about the source of the deposits she made. She led the bank to believe that the money was in exchange for goods for an NGO she was managing.
Evidence gathered include an audio clip in which she threatened one of the victims. She told the victim that if she filed a complaint to official bodies, she would never get her money back.
More evidence included receipts for deposits and wires as well as the bank statement, and a technical report from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA). She also admitted that she had transferred money outside the Kingdom, and confessed that she was collecting money from the plaintiffs by claiming that she was buying shares in the alleged company based in a Gulf state.
The teacher also admitted burning receipts for transfers and deposits in order to hide her crime.