RIYADH — The Court of Appeals in Riyadh issued a ruling convicting 24 defendants, both citizens and residents, who formed an organized gang to carry out a money-laundering crime of approximately SR17 billion. The court punished them with imprisonment for periods of up to 20 years, for convicting them of what was attributed to them. The court ruled to prevent the citizens convicted in the case from traveling for periods similar to their sentences, and to deport non-Saudis — after the expiry of their sentence. The court also fined them with varying fines totaling more than SR75 million and confiscated all funds subject of the crime, which are estimated at billions of riyals. The gang carried out its criminal activities in an organized 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 and participating in this crime, collecting and depositing funds and transferring them abroad to carry out this crime. The court also convicted a number of them for failing to report money laundering operations despite their knowledge of it, and of agreeing, helping and advising to carry out the crime, in addition to committing the crime of bribery.
