Saudi officials have accused some government officials of corruption following an investigation into major corruption in the country.
According to Al-Khaleej Online, Saudi officials said they were investigating major cases of corruption, including bribery, embezzlement and waste of funds, in which some officials, including a former Saudi minister, were charged with corruption. Corruption in the Saudi government apparatus has also reached the national security sector.
The official Saudi news agency “Wass” quoted an official source in the Saudi Anti-Corruption Organization as saying that the former Saudi minister has had many criminal cases in the past and the legal process of these cases is nearing completion.
The source said that the number of cases investigated by the commission is 12, most of which are related to bribery, embezzlement, waste of government funds and forgery of documents.
Most of those charged with corruption are Saudi government employees, including a retired commander in the Interior Ministry and a former adviser to the Interior Ministry, a retired interior ministry brigadier general, and two businessmen. In addition to Saudi government employees, Saudi military officers and customs officials were also charged with major corruption.
Last November, the Saudi government’s anti-corruption watchdog announced that 51 military officers, staff and several foreign nationals had been charged with corruption.
Nineteen Department of Defense officers, three government employees, 18 businessmen and investors, eight private sector employees and three foreign nationals were interrogated and investigated in six corruption cases totaling $ 328 million.
An official from the Saudi Anti-Corruption Organization said that the organization has so far detected 158 cases of corruption and arrested 226 Saudi citizens and foreign nationals.
A group of Saudi officials, princes and government officials have been arrested in recent months on charges of complicity in corruption.
In March 2018, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz ordered the formation of an anti-corruption organization headed by his son, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, following the arrest of dozens of current and former Saudi princes and officials.
Muhammad bin Salman, claiming that he was trying to reform his country’s economy by starting a wave of arrests of current and former Saudi officials and what he called anti-corruption.
Some opponents of the Saudi government say that Muhammad bin Salman has used the fight against corruption as an excuse to suppress his opponents in the executive apparatus and among the Saudi dynasty and to show them power.