Saudi: 226 officials arrested in anti-corruption clampdown
Saudi authorities announced the arrest of 226 people involved in 158 cases of corruption including money laundering, bribery and fraud within country’s Ministry of Defence totalling some SR1.2 billion.
Criminal investigations have been launched against those arrested, according to an official source at the authority. Cases also included employees of the Ministries of Finance, Health and Education
It has been proven that “a number of officers and civil servants working at the Ministry of Defence, together with others, have been involved in suspicious financial dealings, committing bribery crimes, exploiting office influence and fraud, squandering public money and laundering money, to achieve illicit financial gains amounting to 1,229,400,000 Saudi riyals.”
The commission has investigated 48 people and that the probe carried out by officials ended with 44 of them being charged. Work is said to be currently underway to recover the funds that were stolen from the state treasury.
Another case involved a retired National Guard officer who was charged with accepting bribes of 8.2 million riyals when he was in active duty.
Saudi Arabia’s Control and Anti-Corruption Authority said: “The authority will pursue anyone who exploits the public office to achieve personal gain or harm the public interest in any way possible. The crimes of financial and administrative corruption have no statute of limitations, and that it will apply what the law rules against the violators with zero tolerance.”
