Saudi: Government Officials Among Those Arrested Over Corruption Charges
The Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) announced on Monday the arrest of a number of government officials, as well as citizens and expatriates who were accused of corruption charges involving millions of riyals. The Nazaha spokesman said that the authority had initiated a number of criminal cases during the last period and work is underway to complete the legal procedures against the perpetrators.
The most prominent of these cases was the arrest of two non-commissioned officers and two expatriates for their involvement in submitting incorrect documents by which an amount of SR1.3 million was spent in an irregular manner, and it was found that the amount spent was shared among them.
Three expatriates were arrested after they were caught red-handed while handing over SR4000 to a bank employee in exchange for depositing cash amounting to SR316,000 in bank accounts belonging to commercial entities and transferring that money abroad without filing a suspicious report about the account to the central bank. It was revealed through investigations that the total sums deposited in those accounts and transfers abroad amounted to SR2,981,000.
The spokesman said that six expatriates working in companies, which are contracting with government hospitals in different regions, were arrested for seizing medicines not intended for sale from the hospitals where they work and selling them inside Saudi Arabia and smuggling part of them abroad in an illegal way, with an estimated value of SR1,031,000 in cash.
The Nazaha also caught a citizen red-handed when handing over SR30,000 to one of the forensic officials in return for exchanging DNA samples to prove lineage. A former employee of a municipality was arrested for accepting a sum amounting to SR158,000 in exchange for issuing a land deed for a citizen.
The Nazaha spokesman said that three former employees of a local bank were detained for accepting SR210,000 from a businessman, who was arrested, in exchange for completing the procedures for requesting real estate financing in an illegal manner. The director of security and safety in a private company was caught red-handed while accepting SR30,000 out of SR100,000, in exchange for not recording violations of a company that subcontracted with his employer, and facilitating the procedures for disbursing its dues amounting to SR1.5 million.
A former employee of a mayoralty was arrested for accepting, during his service period, SR80,000 in return for condoning construction violations in a building owned by a businessman, who was also arrested. The spokesman stated that a citizen working in an engineering office was arrested for accepting SR20,000 in exchange for preparing a cadastral report that contradicts reality for a site owned by two citizens, and for obtaining a building completion certificate through the office in which he works. An employee of a commercial entity affiliated with a local bank was caught red-handed while receiving SR8000 in return for facilitating the disbursement of special payments for a real estate loan in an illegal manner.
The Nazaha officials also arrested an employee, a former non-commissioned officer in the Ministry of National Guard, an expatriate who previously worked at the ministry, and a notary public for issuing legal proxies in the names of fictitious persons and trying to obtain government subsidies using those proxies. Another expatriate was arrested for obtaining SR28,000 in exchange for installing two electric meters for two properties without registering their data in the Saudi Electricity Company system.
