Dubai: A number of retired Saudi officers have been charged with misappropriating SR379 million from the Ministry of Defence, Al Arabiya reported on Sunday.
The move is part of the kingdom’s efforts to crack down on corruption. The Saudi Control and Anti-Corruption Authority revealed the results of its investigations of the retired officers who were arrested earlier on corruption charges.
The authority found that the accused retirees had exploited their positions and misappropriated SR379 million worth of government contracts at the Ministry of Defence.
Earlier this year, Saudi authorities suspended 126 local government employees at municipalities across the kingdom on corruption charges. They have been accused of involvement in several cases, including financial and managerial corruption and legal violations such as abuse of power as well as other legal and criminal violations, according to the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
In July 2018, an official at the Ministry of Defence was arrested for accepting a bribe of SR1 million. The unnamed official, along with two others believed to be involved in the transaction, have been charged with bribery and abuse of their position for their own interests.
The office of the Attorney-General, Sheikh Saud Bin Abdulaziz Al Mujib, said the official had abused his official position to leverage power and betray the nation.
The arrest came more than a year after Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who also serves as Minister of Defence, pledged to hold all accused of bribery accountable in the kingdom
In 2017, Saudi authorities rounded up dozens of people on the orders of Prince Salman amid a nationwide crackdown on corruption, with many confined and interrogated at Riyadh’s opulent Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
Most of them were released later, among them was Saudi businessman Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, after being acquitted or made financial settlements with the government.
Also, two judges, who were earlier arrested red-handed, have been charged with accepting bribes in breach of their duties. Nine officials at the Knowledge International University have been charged with corruption and causing damage to the university.