The Kingdom is currently checking the Saudi bank accounts and investments of 44 Lebanese individuals who are linked to Hezbollah, according to a report in a local publication on Tuesday.
This report comes in the wake of the Kingdom last month freezing the assets of two Hezbollah members for supporting terrorist operations in various Middle East countries including Yemen and Syria. It includes a ban on Saudis having any dealings with the two men.
Experts reportedly said here this week that the security agencies must make a list of all the investors in the Kingdom, particularly those of foreigners in the real estate sector.
Financial expert Fadel Al-Buainain said there are several ways to track suspicious people and companies by checking their liquidity and transactions. The banking sector is able to provide much of this information, he said.
He said there appears to have been activity in the real estate sector since the 1990s by people who would not have been able to do so without outside assistance, he said.
Abdulmunim Al-Mushawah, head of the Sakinah Campaign of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, said organizations such as Hezbollah are little more than “gangs” with no moral compass in their commercial dealings.
He said terrorist organizations work in total secrecy and are using people inside the country to set up businesses that can be used to finance their operations. However, the Kingdom has had success in cutting off their funding over the past few years. This has helped to protect the country’s investment sector, he said.
