A number of cases involving suspicious transactions have been detected in the Sultanate during the past year, Colonel Mohsin bin Awad, director of the Financial Investigation Unit of the Royal Oman Police (ROP), has said. The suspicious transactions include 209 cases involving financial institutions and some business and non-financial organisations.
After a detailed probe of these reports, several money laundering cases, including cases involving fraud, forgery and violation of banking laws, have been detected.
The cases have been referred to the Public Prosecution and the competent courts have issued orders against the accused. The sentences range from three to 10 years in jail, in addition to payment of fines and confiscation of funds and other assets related to these crimes.
Colonel Mohsin said that crimes related to money laundering are part of the larger criminal activities that involve providing legitimacy to unlawful financial gains and illegal criminal activities like financial corruption or embezzlement.
Ill-gotten wealth The criminals use these funds in economic activities such as buying real estate companies, stock, and movable and immovable property in order to disguise the source of their ill-gotten wealth.
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