RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has passed an anti-money laundering law aimed at stopping cash getting to violent militant groups - a move sought by Washington after the 9/11 attacks - a local newspaper quoted the government as saying on Tuesday.
Saudi Information Minister Abdul-Aziz Khoja said the law contained "rules related to the crimes of financing terrorism, terrorist acts and terror organisations," according to the Arab News daily.
A further law is planned that specifically focuses on militant financing, the paper said, a probable reference to an anti-terrorism bill now before the advisory Shoura Council.
Saudi Arabia began to crack down on militants' financing after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and a subsequent series of bombings on its own territory.
A 2009 U.S. State Department cable released by WikiLeaks said Saudi Arabian donors "constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide".
It added that while Riyadh had "enacted important reforms to criminalise terrorist financing and restrict the overseas flow of funds from Saudi-based charities," more needed to be done.
Terrorist financing has been a regular charge in the trials of suspected militants at a special criminal court in Riyadh in recent years.
(Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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