Riyadh
A money laundering gang in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to a total of 106 years in prison and issued a fine of SR1.08 million ($288,000).
Around SR5 million was seized from the gang and nearly SR2 million was confiscated from their bank accounts, Saudi Press Agency reported.
Five citizens obtained seven commercial registers to import foodstuffs, opened bank accounts, and handed them over to 16 residents of Arab nationality with the aim of depositing illegal sums of money and transferring them abroad, the Public Prosecution said.
A sum of more than SR465 million was also confiscated and is similar to the amount of money that was transferred abroad.
Saudi members of the gang will be subject to a travel ban and non-Saudi members will be deported once they have served their sentences.
Work is underway to prepare a mandate to recover funds from the countries to which they were transferred, SPA said.
Meanwhil,e Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed three soldiers who were sentenced for “high treason” and “cooperating with the enemy”, a statement from the kingdom’s defence ministry said.
It said that the three had been sentenced to death by a specialist court after a fair trial.
The ministry did not name the alleged “enemy” but the executions were carried out in the southern province bordering Yemen where Saudi Arabia has been at war for more than six years against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.
Rights groups, including Amnesty International, have called on Riyadh to stop the use of the death penalty, citing allegations of torture and unfair trials.
Saudi Arabia denies the accusations.
Saudi Arabia executed 27 people in 2020, the lowest in years, down from a record high of 185 the year before, according to the Human Rights Commission, a government body.—Agencies
