Saudi Arabia initiates 11 criminal cases against government employees over corruption

Saudi Arabia’s authorities recently initiated 11 new criminal cases against government employees over corruption charges, according to an announcement made by the Kingdom’s anti-corruption body.

The first case involved a retired Major General and two retired employees in the fifteenth rank and with positions of power in the ministry who were arrested for obtaining cash from local and foreign contracting companies with the ministry.

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A second case involved the arrest of the Director General of Projects at the former Ministry of Higher Education and five businessmen. The first established companies with the latter and obtained through these companies projects at exaggerated prices in the Ministry, obliging other contracting companies to deal with his own companies and received sums of money.

Another case involved an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who was arrested for spending 733,000 Saudi riyals in an irregular manner from the account of one of the Kingdom’s embassies.

Another employee at the Ministry of Media was arrested for issuing 328 media licenses and stealing an amount of approximately 700,000 Saudi riyals through repeatedly using the same payment number, which represents the licenses issuing fees.

Two employees at the Ministry of Finance branch in one of the regions and two citizens (one a real estate owner and the other an agent) were arrested, as the employees obtained an amount of 126,000 riyals out of a total amount of 8,076,000 riyals that was agreed upon in exchange for facilitating the payment of financial compensations.

“The Authority affirms on the continuation to pursue anyone who exploits the public office to achieve personal gain or harm the public interest in any way possible, and that the accountability extends far beyond the retirement of any individual, as 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,” the Kingdom’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) said in a statement.