Okaz/Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) issued directives to the local banks and money exchanges to create the post of an official to combat commercial cover-up (tasattur) with a close monitoring and constant reporting of such suspected cases, Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learnt from well-informed sources.

In a recent circular sent to banks and money exchanges operating in the Kingdom, SAMA said that the new official has to report the suspected cases to Director of the Department of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing.

The directive comes in line with the Central Bank’s supervisory and oversight role, as well as to protect the financial sector and its reputation from money laundering, terrorist financing or related crimes, including the crime of tasattur.

According to the circular, the new official will be tasked with analyzing and reporting cases of suspected commercial cover-ups.

The officials appointed to this post shall be individuals with expertise and competence in the areas of combating commercial cover-up, money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as in drafting policies and procedures necessary to combat cover-up and reporting such cases.

The policies and procedures include developing technical systems to include detection of suspected cover-up crimes, creating and developing scenarios for account control to combat commercial cover-up.

This is through holding training and awareness sessions regarding the detection of commercial cover-up, and training the bank’s employees in this, in addition to evaluating the products, services and channels that may be used in cover-up operations, and issuing and following up internal control reports related to cover-up crimes.

This is in addition to working to create secure channels of communication between the bank and the General Department of Financial Intelligence at the Presidency of State Security to assist in the control, monitoring and reporting of suspicious operations.