60 government employees held for suspected graft in Saudi Arabia

Cairo: Saudi Arabia’s state anti-corruption watchdog has announced arresting 60 government employees from four ministries for suspected involvement in graft as part of a relentless clampdown on corruption, according to a Saudi newspaper.

The Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority said it had interrogated 148 suspects and detained 60 accused persons, some of which were later released on bail, Okaz reported. The accused are employees of the ministries of defence, interior, health and municipal affairs.

Offences include bribery, influence peddling, money laundering and forgery, the paper said without further details.

The agency, known as Nazha, urged members of the public to help protect public money by reporting any suspected financial or administrative corruption.

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