Anti-Money Laundering Law

Purpose and scope

• Criminalises money laundering and imposes preventive duties on financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions; the competent court hears these crimes (Article 47).
• A legal person is liable where the crime is committed in its name or for its account, without prejudice to the liability of individuals (Article 3).

Key rules, rights and obligations

• Money laundering: transferring, moving or dealing in funds known to be crime proceeds to hide their origin; acquiring, holding or using them with that knowledge; or concealing their nature or ownership; it covers attempts and participation by helping, instigating, advising or covering up (Article 2).
• Financial institutions and designated businesses must apply customer due diligence based on risk, with enhanced measures where risk is high (Article 7).
• Records and documents are kept for at least ten years from the end of the transaction or relationship, and the Public Prosecution may require longer (Article 12).
• On suspicion, a report must go immediately to the General Directorate of Financial Intelligence, including by persons providing legal or accounting services (Article 15 as amended); tipping off the customer is prohibited and a good-faith reporter bears no liability (Article 16 as amended).

Violations, penalties and common problems

• Money laundering carries two to ten years in prison, a fine of up to five million riyals, or both (Article 26), rising to three to fifteen years and up to seven million with aggravating factors such as an organised group, abuse of office, exploiting minors or charities, and prior convictions (Article 27).
• A Saudi sentenced to prison is barred from travel for an equal period; a non-Saudi is deported after serving the sentence and may enter only for Hajj or Umrah (Article 28 as amended).
• A legal person faces a fine of up to fifty million riyals and at least double the laundered amount, and may be banned from its activity, have offices closed or be wound up (Article 31).
• The supervisory authority may impose administrative sanctions on institutions that breach their duties (Article 25).

Procedures and key deadlines

• Anyone entering or leaving the Kingdom must declare currency, bearer instruments, gold, precious metals and stones above the set threshold; customs may hold them for 72 hours on suspicion and fine non-declaration or false declaration (Article 23).
• A summary of the judgment may be published at the convict's expense (Article 32).
• Common problems: passing others' money through a personal account, accepting transfers of unknown origin, and neglecting due-diligence records.

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.