Saudi Arabia: Money-laundering gang jailed for SR17b operation
Court hands down sentences of up to 20 years to citizens and expats
Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s Court of Appeals in Riyadh sentenced 24 members of a money-laundering gang to various jail terms up to 20 years, local media said.
The defendants, both citizens and expatriates, were involved in the laundering of 17 billion riyals.
The convicted citizens were also banned from travelling abroad for the period of their sentences. The non-Saudis will be deported after serving their jail terms.
The court slapped the convicts with fines totaling more than 75 million riyals and ordered the confiscation of all funds, estimated at billions of riyals.
The gang carried out its criminal activities in an organised framework under the guise of commercial facilities that varied between factories, companies and institutions, as well as medical clinics.
Their roles varied between committing money laundering, collecting and depositing funds and transferring them abroad.
The court also convicted a number of them for failing to report money laundering, and of agreeing, helping and advising in the crime, in addition to bribery.