An excess of 300,000 riyals were seized from a Bangladeshi resident in Riyadh, who works as a refrigeration technician. During the seizure, it was discovered that a crime of commercial concealment was committed in the vegetable sector.
The story began when the resident was suspected of criminal activity. During the investigation, he was caught with money hidden under his feet in his car, in addition to books of accounts for purchases.
The worker admitted that these funds were accumulated from the revenues of his vegetable wholesale trade. He earned the money by purchasing vegetables at a wholesale market in Aziziyah, south of Riyadh, and then by shipping them for sale to the Eastern Province on a daily basis.
It became evident that a Saudi business owner concealed and enabled the resident to practice unlicensed commercial activities in his two establishments, the first (selling vegetables) and the second (selling plumbing and electrical tools).
It was also proven that the unregistered worker disguised himself as the owner, collected the business’s revenues, practiced unlicensed commercial activities of his own and transferred funds. As a result of his violation of the Anti-Commercial Concealment Law, he was referred to the public prosecutor and then the judiciary.
The Criminal Court in Riyadh issued a verdict convicting the violators of committing commercial concealment. As a result, the unregistered resident received a 5-month prison sentence, was deported from the Kingdom and prohibited from returning to work. Additionally, both violators were fined 80,000 riyals and defamed by the court.
The National Anti-Commercial Concealment Program (Tasattur) has adopted modern mechanisms that contribute to restricting the sources of commercial concealment and eliminating the shadow economy. Currently, 20 government agencies are working to regulate commercial concealment using artificial intelligence and data and information analysis techniques.
These modern approaches complement their ongoing efforts to punish violators by imposing penalties of 5 years in prison, a fine of 5 million riyals, seizing and confiscating illegal funds after the issuance of a final judicial ruling, closing establishments, liquidating their activities, canceling commercial records, preventing violators from engaging in commercial activities and collecting zakat fees, fees and taxes.