JEDDAH: The Saudi Public Prosecution said on Sunday that a group of 11 citizens and expatriates who committed money laundering and anti-concealment crimes were sentenced to a combined 52 years in prison.

An official source in the Public Prosecution confirmed that investigations by the economic crimes unit revealed the involvement of a group consisting of two accused citizens and nine expatriates in committing money laundering crimes and violations of the anti-concealment system by exploiting a number of commercial entities and their branches, by receiving and transferring funds of unknown origin from their bank accounts totaling more than SR10 billion ($2.66 billion).
The source added that the investigation had ended with the filing of a public lawsuit against the perpetrators.
A preliminary ruling was issued to imprison the accused for a combined total of 52 years, with fines amounting to SR62.5 million. Funds and investment portfolio assets were seized, amounting to SR1.6 million.

A deportation order from the Kingdom was also issued, which will commence after the expiry of their sentences. The Saudi citizens in the group are also barred from traveling for a period similar to their imprisonment.
The source also indicated that the Public Prosecution resumed the procedures for objecting to the ruling by requesting an increase in the penalty against the perpetrators.
In January alone, the Public Prosecution carried out almost 100,000 legal procedures. They include 31,231 cases handled by prosecution branches, 27,542 processed criminal cases, 1,683 remotely processed services provided to petitioners, 86 complaints filed by convicted prisoners and 17 processed petitions provided for prisoners arrested or sentenced through the Absher service.
The Public Prosecution’s weekly report in January also included 4,764 reports.
In November last year, the Ministry of Commerce and Investment and the Presidency of State Security revealed more than 120 anti-concealment cases through linking data with 20 government entities to enhance detection.
Abdulrahman Al-Hussein, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce and Investment, said that the method of supervisory work on combating anti-concealment has “changed greatly.”
He added: “In the past, we relied on the monitoring rounds and the reports received by the ministry. Now, the data has been linked with 20 government agencies, and we have concluded from it more than 120 indications of suspected anti-concealment.”
After electronic reading and data analysis, supervisory teams are directed to suspected violating businesses across the Kingdom.

Col. Mohammed Al-Aqeel of the Presidency of State Security said: “The Presidency of State Security and its affiliated agencies are one of the main components in supporting the decision-making system, as the analysis contributes to uncovering the violating activities that are related to commercial anti-concealment.”