Abu Dhabi: Two men, a Saudi and a resident, were jailed for three years each and fined SR6 million after they were convicted of money laundering, a Saudi criminal court ruled.
The Saudi convict was also banned from travelling for another three years, while the resident will be deported to his home country after serving his term, the Public Prosecution said in a statement.
The duo were found guilty of collecting and transferring money of an unknown origin outside the kingdom.
They were involved in transferring the money through bank accounts of a commercial entity owned by the Saudi citizen who had allowed the other convict to use the accounts as a cover for their financial transactions.
An official source at the Public Prosecution explained that the citizen colluded with a foreign person to enable him to access his bank accounts in return for a monthly amount of money.
Accordingly, the citizen created a commercial entity and opened bank accounts, with the aim of misleading the regulatory authorities into believing there was a commercial activity.
Then the citizen handed over the bank accounts to the foreigner who had collected money illegally, deposited it in those accounts and transferred it abroad.
Investigation proved the commercial entity had no actual activity on the ground.
The court ordered confiscation of 6 million riyals, a similar value of the funds smuggled abroad, and the smuggled funds are being recovered through the International Cooperation Department at the Public Prosecution, the source said.
The source stressed the danger of enabling others to exploit private bank accounts to transfer funds illegally, indicating that the Public Prosecution will continue to fight all financial crimes, and will demand the most severe, deterrent penalties that achieve security for the nation.
