In force Last amended 27/4/1443 AH
Saudi Anti-Bribery Law
نظام مكافحة الرشوة
The law defines who is a bribe-taker, criminalizes related acts connected to the work of public employees, sets penalties for the bribe-taker, bribe-giver, intermediary and accomplice, ancillary penalties, cases of exemption, rewards for informants, and penalties for companies whose managers are convicted.
- Articles
- 23
- In force
- 23
- Amended
- 7
- Issued
- 29/12/1412 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم م/36 بتاريخ 29 / 12 / 1412 · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم 175 بتاريخ 28 / 12 / 1412
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Anti-Bribery Law by topic
Penalty for Bribery7 articlesMediation, Recommendation and Following Up Transactions3 articlesBriber, Intermediary and Offering a Bribe3 articlesBribery in the Private Sector1 articleWho Counts as a Public Employee4 articlesRemoval, Confiscation and Ancillary Penalties4 articlesExemption and Reward for Reporting Bribery2 articlesCorporate Penalties for Bribery2 articles
Articles of the Saudi Anti-Bribery Law
- Article 1The article treats as a bribe-taker any public employee who requests, accepts or takes a promise or gift to perform an act of his job, punishable by up to ten years' imprisonment and a fine of up to SAR 1 million, or either.
- Article 2The article treats as a bribe-taker a public employee who requests, accepts or takes a promise or gift to refrain from an act of his job, punishable under Article 1.
- Article 3The article treats as a bribe-taker a public employee who requests, accepts or takes a promise or gift to breach his job duties or as a reward for what he did, even without a prior agreement.
- Article 4The article treats as the equivalent of a bribe-taker a public employee who breaches his job duties as a result of a request, recommendation or mediation, punishable by up to three years' imprisonment and a fine of up to SAR 100,000, or either.
- Article 5The article treats as a bribe-taker any person who requests, accepts or takes a promise or gift to use real or claimed influence to obtain a benefit from a public authority.Amended M/38
- Article 6The article punishes a public employee who takes a promise or gift because of his job to follow up a government transaction, and the giver and the intermediary, with up to two years' imprisonment and a fine of up to SAR 50,000, or either.
- Article 7The article punishes, with the penalty in Article 1, anyone who uses force, violence or threat against a public employee to obtain an unlawful act from him or to make him refrain from a duty assigned to him by law.
- Article 8The article broadens the concept of public employee for applying the Anti-Bribery Law to include several categories, among them employees of joint-stock companies, banks, civil associations and the foreign public official.Amended M/38
- Article 9من عرض رشوة ولم تقبل منه يعاقب بالسجن مدة لا تتجاوز عشر سنوات وبغرامة لا تزيد عن مليون ريال أو بإحدى هاتين العقوبتين.Amended
- Article 10The article punishes the briber, the intermediary and every participant in the Law's offenses with the penalty of the article that criminalizes the act, and treats as a participant anyone who agreed, incited or helped knowingly.
- Article 11The article punishes anyone appointed by the bribe-taker or briber to take the bribe who accepted that knowing the reason, with up to two years' imprisonment and a fine of up to SAR 50,000, or either.
- Article 12The article broadens the meaning of promise or gift in bribery offenses to include every benefit or advantage the bribe-taker can obtain, material or non-material, of whatever type or name.
- Article 13The article attaches to the conviction of a public employee or his equivalent for an offense under the Law removal from public office and disqualification from public posts and the work treated as equivalent to it.
- Article 14The article provides that the Minister of Interior, on the recommendation of a three-body committee, may issue a decision to reconsider the subsidiary penalties after five years from the end of the principal penalty.Amended
- Article 15The article requires that anyone convicted of bribery be sentenced to confiscation of the money, advantage or benefit that was the subject of the offense, or its value, and any proceeds resulting from it.Amended M/38
- Article 16The article exempts the briber or intermediary from the principal and subsidiary penalties if he informs the authorities of the bribery offense before it is discovered.
- Article 17The article grants a reward of not less than SAR 5,000 and not more than half the confiscated money to whoever points to a bribery offense proven by his information, if he is not a briber, participant or intermediary.Amended
- Article 18The article treats as a repeat offender a person convicted of a bribery offense who commits another within five years of the end of the penalty, and allows a sentence above the maximum but not more than double it.
- Article 19The article requires punishing a company whose manager or one of its staff was convicted of a bribery offense committed in its interest, with a fine of up to ten times the bribe, disqualification from government contracting, or both.
- Article 20If a company is sentenced to disqualification under Article 19, the government bodies contracting with it submit to the Council of Ministers what they consider appropriate regarding its works, even if they have no connection with the offense.
- Article 21على وزارة الداخلية نشر الأحكام التي تصدر في جرائم الرشوة وإعلانها.Amended
- Article 22The article provides that this Law replaces the Anti-Bribery Law issued by Royal Decree No. 15 dated 7/3/1382 AH and its amendments, and repeals anything that conflicts with it.
- Article 23The article provides for publishing the Anti-Bribery Law in the Official Gazette and for it to take effect thirty days after the date of publication.
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