Anti-Bribery Law

Purpose and scope

• Criminalises bribery in public office and equivalent posts and in the private sector; persons treated as public officials include state employees, appointed arbitrators and experts, those assigned government tasks, staff of companies running public utilities, partly state-owned or banking companies, civil associations, and foreign public officials (Article 8 as amended).

Key rules, rights and obligations

• An official who requests, accepts or takes a promise or gift to perform an official act, even a lawful one, to refrain from it, or to breach their duties is a bribe-taker (Articles 1, 2 and 3).
• An official who breaches duties because of a request, recommendation or intercession is treated as a bribe-taker (Article 4); a promise or gift covers any material or non-material benefit or advantage (Article 12).
• Giving and taking bribes in the private sector, associations and professional bodies is also a crime (Articles 9 bis 1 and 9 bis 2).

Violations, penalties and common problems

• A bribe-taker faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to one million riyals, or either (Article 1); offering or promising a bribe that is refused carries the same penalty (Article 9 as amended).
• In the private sector the penalty is up to five years in prison, a fine of up to five hundred thousand riyals, or both (Articles 9 bis 1 and 9 bis 2).
• The briber, intermediary and accomplice receive the penalty for the crime (Article 10), the bribe is confiscated (Article 15), and a benefiting company is fined up to ten times the bribe or barred from government contracts, or both (Article 19).
• A repeat offence within five years of the end of the sentence may be punished above the maximum, up to double (Article 18).

Procedures and key deadlines

• The briber or intermediary is exempt from the principal and ancillary penalties if they report the crime to the authorities before it is discovered (Article 16).
• A person, not a briber, accomplice or intermediary, whose information leads to proof of a bribery crime receives a financial reward (Article 17).

An advisory summary prepared by Al-Bayan Al-Wadih Law Firm. It is not an official text and does not replace the law, its implementing regulations, or advice from a specialised lawyer. The official published text and its amendments prevail.