Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on Monday, July 24, convicted 23 expatriates of Asian nationalities on charges of money laundering, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The Public Prosecution investigation revealed that they were found with over 4 million Saudi Riyals (1.07 million dollars) in cash, which they divided among themselves before attempting to leave the country via one of the Kingdom’s land borders.
All the convicts are from South Asian countries and had obtained the money by illegal means.
Sixteen of the accused were sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 7 million Saudi Riyals each. The money they tried to flee was confiscated.
The rest were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 4 to 8 years. After serving their sentence, they will be deported from the kingdom.
In recent years, the kingdom has launched a wide campaign to combat money laundering, bribery, embezzlement, waste of public money and abuse of power.
The penalty for money laundering and corruption crimes is up to 20 years in prison and millions in fines, in addition to confiscating funds.
