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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emphasizes that it pays great attention to fighting financial crimes in general and money laundering crimes, terrorism financing and proliferation of armaments in particular. The Kingdom is committed to find all advanced means and professional methods for fighting these crimes and to continuously work on  providing the required capabilities in order to develop the work mechanism of the authorities concerned in the Kingdom aiming at improving its legislative, institutional and professional systems related to the AML/CFT and fighting Proliferation of armaments to be in line with the international standards and requirements of FATF and international best practices in this regard.

This came in a speech delivered by the Deputy Chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering Permanent Committee (AMLPC) in the Kingdom, Mr. Adel Bin Hamad Al-Qulaish during a Workshop on "Financial Intelligence for Money Laundering Investigations and Prosecutions" organized by the Committee, in cooperation with The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in Riyadh yesterday. Al-Qulaish thanked IMF for its cooperation with the Committee in organizing this event. Al-Qulish extended his thanks to all other participants from the entities concerned and the AMLPC members as well.

Al-Qulaish pointed out that the Kingdom has stressed the important roles of all AML/CFT authorities concerned and the sectors under their supervision through fully complying with the regulations, standards and instructions relevant to the combating and implementing of policies and procedures, in addition to promoting the risks-based approach which aims at understanding threats and vulnerabilities and means of handling them to be more effective in detecting, preventing, monitoring operations and reporting suspicious activities.

Al-Qulaish pointed out that the approval of Supreme Royal Court of the adoption of the National Strategic Objectives for fighting money laundering and terrorism financing, and the National Plan to achieve  these objectives is a clear message and an evident indication of the Kingdom's keenness to develop policies and procedures of the entities concerned to improve their mechanisms and introduce integrated work mechanisms, and enhance the inter-entities relationships in a way that serves their technical and operational aspects.

The Deputy Chairman said that the Kingdom has recently undergone a mutual assessment process conducted by experts from FATF and the MENAFATF for the regulations, procedures and efforts exerted in the field of combating money laundering, terrorism financing and the proliferation of armament. The Kingdom achieved positive results in that process. He added that the Kingdom's initiative in supporting and establishing  the Technical Assistance Fund for AML/CFT programs under IMF's umbrella was based on its belief in the importance and vital role of IMF; and it is an extension of the local, regional and international efforts exerted by the Kingdom in combating money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation of armaments. The initiative also confirms the Kingdom's keenness to support the international community's efforts exerted in AML/CFT and Anti-Proliferation of armaments.