Saudi Arabia: Judge, prosecutor, officials held in graft cases

Abu Dhabi: Saudi authorities have disclosed the arrest of a judge, a prosecutor and government employees over involvement in several graft cases as the kingdom pursues a relentless crackdown on corruption, local media reported.

The state Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority said it has recently handled a number of cases including one in which a Chief Justice of a commercial court was arrested for taking SR41,500 in bribes from engineering consultancy offices in return for making favourable decisions in disputes.

In a second case, the anti-graft watchdog arrested a prosecutor on charges of receiving SR30,000 in bribes for keeping a case pending for seven months in order to pressure a party to a dispute.

In another case, a director of a complex for the memorisation of the holy Qur’an and a secondary school for misappropriating SR153,942, which was allocated for the complex.

A director of a social security department at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development was also arrested for embezzlement of SR500,000 after allegedly having registered a number of his acquaintances as beneficiaries of the social security with forged medical reports.

In a major money laundering case, three bankers and 11 residents were arrested for establishing commercial entities in the names of their relatives, opening bank accounts, which were later used for laundering of nearly SR506 million, in return for a percentage of the funds.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has stepped up a crackdown on white-collar corruption, arresting dozens of state employees and entrepreneurs.