Money laundering is being poses a serious threat for the economic stability and national security especially in the jurisdictions complex financial system. Along with the alignment of the Saudi Arabia’s with the international Anti-Money Laundering standards, persistent legal and practical challenges remain, especially regarding the criminal liability of financial institutions and their employees. Consequently, the study aimed to critically examine the Saudi legal framework for governing the criminal liability for money laundering, with a particular focus on the role and accountability of financial institutions and their personnel. Adopting a constructivist paradigm, the study collected a primary data from expert interviews. Study results revealed that Saudi Arabia’s law are being formally robust along with the practical effectiveness is constrained by vague liability standards, a preference for institutional penalties over individual accountability, principle-based regulatory uncertainty, and limited judicial utilization. The study further identifies the need for clearer codification of employee liability, a hybrid regulatory model, judicially defensible AI-based AML systems, and specialized judicial capacity. The study findings contributed to emphasize the significance of justice-oriented reforms that enhance legal certainty, proportionality, and accountability for strengthen of the overall effectiveness of Saudi Arabia’s AML framework.