Malta probes embezzlement claims against ex-Saudi official
Maltese citizen Al Jabri said to have siphoned off billions of dollars
Cairo: Malta has said it is investigating embezzlement claims against former Saudi official Saad Al Jabri, who has recently become a Maltese citizen.
Saudi state companies have accused Al Jabri, a former security advisor, of embezzling billions of dollars during his 17-year work at the Interior Ministry.
A-Jabri appeared on the most recently published list of new Maltese citizens after buying a passport through a controversial scheme, Times of Malta newspaper reported.
In October, the European Commission initiated “infringement procedures” against Malta on the scheme arguing that citizenship in return for a pre-determined payment or investment makes the passport buyer automatically a European Union citizen.
However, a spokesman for the citizenship secretariat said that the Community Malta Agency, which handles citizenship affairs, can only act if there is concrete evidence to present to the citizenship deprivation board.
Al Jabari is reportedly living in Canada.
Last October, a Canadian court ordered a freeze of his worldwide assets and ordered him to disclose them or face possible imprisonment time.
The court’s decision is seen as a successful step in the Saudi government’s pursuit of corruption cases at a Western court of law. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has made fight of corruption a top priority since 2017. His anti-graft campaign has resulted in retrieving billions of looted dollars to the state coffers.