JEDDAH — The Criminal Court in Jeddah governorate issued a preliminary verdict, convicting the owner of an establishment and one of his employees for being involved in the commercial cover-up (tasattur) and money laundering. The court sentenced them to a total of nine years in jail and confiscation of more than SR28 million. The confiscated amount represents the value of the money transferred outside the Kingdom. The public prosecutor has submitted an objection to the ruling, demanding that the convicts shall be given more stringent punishment. An official source at the Public Prosecution stated that the General Department for Financial Investigation had received information from a local bank about suspicious transactions from the bank account of a commercial enterprise. Accordingly, the department examined the report and analyzed the account details, before contacting the General Customs Authority to find out the size of the import of the establishment. It was revealed in the investigation with substantial evidence for money laundering by using the establishment’s bank account as an intermediary to collect money from a large number of expatriates and commercial institutions, and then transferring them to a number of commercial companies within the Kingdom and outside. The investigations conducted by the Economic Crimes Investigation Department of the Public Prosecution resulted in the indictment of the owner of the establishment and one of its employees for the commercial cover-up and money laundering.