Saudi Arabia Approves Law To Curb Money Laundering

Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers yesterday approved the law for combating money laundering, which will also be applied to fight funding terrorism and terror organizations.

The Cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, also approved the establishment of Makkah Techno Valley as a Saudi joint stock company.

“The new company is aimed at promoting a knowledge-based economy through partnership with educational and research institutions as well as the business and investment community,” said Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja.

Spelling out Makkah Techno Valley’s objectives, Khoja said it would invest in industries for the transfer of technology; prepare university students to work in the private sector; and create a suitable atmosphere for economically viable research projects.

The Cabinet statement indicated the Kingdom’s plan to issue a new law to combat crimes related to terror funding. “Rules related to the crimes of financing terrorism, terrorist acts and terror organizations specified in the anti-money laundering law will continue to be applied until the issuance of a new law to combat such crimes,” Khoja said.

During the Cabinet meeting, King Abdullah briefed the ministers on the outcome of his talks with Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Riyadh.

The Cabinet commended the resolutions taken by the US-GCC Forum in Riyadh, which aims at setting out an official framework for promoting strategic political, military, security and economic cooperation between the two sides.

The Cabinet backed the call made by the forum to end the bloodbath in Syria immediately. It also reiterated its support for the UN envoy, Kofi Annan, for the success of his peace mission in Syria.

The forum called upon all countries that are related to the Syrian issue to support international efforts to solve the crisis quickly. The Cabinet insisted that the international efforts should give priority to immediately ending the killings in Syria.

The Cabinet commended various international efforts to contain the Syrian crisis, including the Friends of Syria conference in Istanbul that recognized the Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and an umbrella organization for opposition groups. The Cabinet praised Turkey’s honorable stand on the Syrian issue.

Referring to the nuclear security summit in Seoul, the Kingdom reiterated its desire to make Middle East free of nuclear weapons and make all possible efforts to avoid nuclear accidents and dangers.

Khoja said the Cabinet endorsed the security cooperation agreement with Malaysia, which was signed in Riyadh on April 18, 2011.

The Cabinet reappointed Prince Turki bin Saud bin Muhammad as vice president for research institutes at King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology, for four years; Suleiman bin Ahmed Al-Oqail, minister plenipotentiary at the Foreign Ministry; Muhammad bin Ali Al-Mundarij, deputy mayor for construction and projects in Qassim; Saad bin Muhammad Al-Jasser, petroleum adviser at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources; and Mansour bin Muhammad Al-Baziee, director general of legal department at the Transport Ministry.