The Saudi Ministry of Commerce announced the issuance of a final court ruling against a Saudi woman who was implicated in the crime of commercial concealment by enabling her resident husband of Syrian nationality to engage in commercial activity through her own company.
The case was initiated when the Ministry received a report about commercial concealment in a contracting company in Riyadh. The investigation revealed that the woman’s husband had enabled one of his cousins to engage in contracting activity in Riyadh without a permit while the administrative and financial affairs of the company were unknown to the woman. The three violators were referred to the judiciary to be tried in accordance with the anti-commercial concealment law.
The Criminal Court in Riyadh issued a final judicial ruling for each offender separately imposing a prison sentence of 6 months and a fine of 60,000 riyals. Additionally, the violators’ businesses where defamed and ancillary penalties prescribed by law were imposed, namely: closing the facility, liquidating its activities, removing it from the commercial registry, banning it from continuing business, collecting zakat fees and taxes, and expelling the third undisclosed laborer from the Kingdom permanently.
The National Anti-Commercial Concealment Program (Tasattur) has adopted modern mechanisms that contribute to restricting commercial concealment and eliminating the shadow economy. Currently, 20 government agencies are working to control commercial concealment and have integrated artificial intelligence along with data and information analysis techniques to support their efforts of imposing regular penalties on violators which include: 5 years in prison, a fine of 5 million riyals, seizure and confiscation of illegal funds after a final court ruling and defamation of the violators.