The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency froze the account of a public sector employee after he received SR1.2 billion, Al-Watan reported. A source said a public sector employee in his 30s was surprised to find that his bank account had been frozen. "The employee later found out that SR1.2 billion was mistakenly transferred to his bank account. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency froze his account on suspicion of money laundering. The employee received a text message of the transference and he was shocked by it. Hours later, he received another message from the bank saying his account was frozen," said the source. The source also said the employee went to the bank to inquire about the freezing of his account. "The bank informed the employee that the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency froze his account on suspicion of money laundering. The bank also informed him that he had to go to the Ministry of Interior Monetary Investigation Department to find out more about the frozen account," said the source. The source added the employee went to the Ministry of Interior Monetary Investigation Department and the department's investigation revealed that the employee was innocent of any money laundering allegations. "The department also informed the employee that his account will remain frozen until the department finds out the source of the transaction," said the source. Lawyer and legal consultant Asim Al-Mullah said receiving monetary transactions from outside of the Kingdom without identifying the source of the transaction is considered money laundering. "Five percent of bank accounts receive transactions from outside the Kingdom from unknown sources. These transactions are usually large sums of money. The money could be a part of any illegal business such as weapon trade or drug dealing," said Al-Mullah. He added there are organized gangs that transfer money and monitor the client of the account they had transferred to. "The gang makes sure that these clients are able to withdraw money without being questioned by the authority. Once the gang makes sure that the clients are not monitored by the authorities, they would negotiate with the account holder for their money," said Al-Mullah. He added it is challenging for the Kingdom to deal with international money laundering cases. "We have an international agreement that allows us to deal with drug smuggling attempts but we do not have any protocol that allows us to deal with money laundering from outside of the borders of the Kingdom," said Al-Mullah.
