Saudi Minister of Justice and President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Walid Al-Samaani, approved on Monday a decision to restructure the permanent team to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
In a press conference, Samaani said the mission of the team was to meet the needs of the National Committee for Combatting Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing at the local and international levels, prepare reports on the Ministry’s AML/CFT measures and participate in related meetings, workshops and forums.
Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice for International Cooperation, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that the formation of the team has taken into account the representation of the competent agencies and departments.
He noted that the team was headed by the Ministry’s under-secretariat for Systems and International Cooperation, which was established to carry out outreach functions to enhance the reputation of the Saudi judiciary at the local and international levels.
It is worth noting that the Ministry’s team has been evaluated and achieved advanced results in international communication with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Permanent Committee against Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism.
According to the Saudi AML/CFT law, the penalty for money laundering ranges between three and 15 years imprisonment or a fine of up to SR7 million ($1.87 million).
Those penalties can be combined if the accused was part of an organized gang or used violence during the crime; if the accused works in the public sector and exploited their job and/or power to commit the crime; or if the crime included human trafficking, the exploitation of a minor or a woman, or the use of a correctional, charitable or educational facility.
Under the Saudi law, a money laundering crime involves conducting any transaction with property or proceeds with the knowledge that they are the result of criminal activity or originate from an illegitimate source in order to disguise, protect or help that source or any other person involved in the original crime through which the property or proceeds were obtained.
