RIYADH — The 11th International Anti-Corruption Day Forum, organized by the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) entitled "Corruption Risks Management in the Public Sector: Experiences, Challenges, and Solutions", has concluded with the participation of several experts from the government and private sectors.

Nazaha’s Vice President for Protecting Integrity, Supervisor of Oversight, Investigation and Combating Corruption Dr. Bandar AbalKhail inaugurated the forum by extending his thanks to the participants and highlighting the fact that celebrating the International Anti-Corruption Day is based on Saudi Arabia’s participation in efforts to raise awareness against the threats of corruption on the world. He affirmed that the only means to eliminate corruption is cooperation at all levels.

He said: "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman shed great importance on promoting the values of integrity, transparency, and combating corruption, when he stressed that corruption represents the first enemy of development and prosperity as it cannot be combated without close international cooperation, and that eradicating corruption is a national task to preserve public funds and protect national gains, and that Saudi Arabia is continuing its approach to combating and eradicating it."

AbalKhail added that the directives of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Prime Minister, stressed that "corruption is the cause of losing many great opportunities, and what matters to us today is to be at the forefront of countries in combating corruption and to achieve the lowest rates of corruption globally".

This approach is consistent with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which confirm that transparency and combating corruption is its main pillar to strengthen the principles of accountability in the public and private sectors, and to never tolerate corruption at any level, AbaAlkhail said.

"This holds us in the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority in great responsibility to achieve the aspirations of the leadership to protect integrity, promote transparency, and combat corruption, considering the unlimited and continuous support that the Authority receives to enable it to carry out its tasks and jurisdiction," he added.

The forum discussed topics related to managing and assessing corruption risks, reviewing the role of building networks and information exchange at the international level, as well as mechanisms for managing corruption risks, in addition to the most crucial successful practices and experiences in the field of corruption risks management.

The participants of the first session were Tim Steele, representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; Colonel Dr. Bandar Abdullah Alrabiah, Director of General Administration of Internal Audit at Nazaha; Adel bin Hamad Al-Qulish, Senior Consultant and Vice Chairman of AMLPC; and Ibrahim Ababutain, GM for Risk & Business Continuity at the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing. The session was moderated by Sattam Al-Harbi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development for Control and Work Environment Development.

Participants in the second session included Associate General Auditor at Saudi Aramco Saud Al-Harbi, Anti-Fraud General Manager at the Ministry of Finance Faiz Al-Shehri, General Manager of Enterprise Risk and Cyber Security at the General Authority for Awqaf Abdulrahman Alkhudhair, and Governance, Risk and Compliance General Manager at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development Mohammed Abuaish. The session was moderated by Assistant Professor of Law at King Saud University Dr. Najla Alhekail.

The event seeks to highlight efforts and successful practices in confronting the risks of financial and administrative corruption in the public sector.

The organization of this forum emanates from Saudi Arabia’s keenness to participate with the international community in commemorating the International Anti-Corruption Day 2022, and in line with the framework of the Authority’s endeavor to activate international partnerships of agreements in the field of protecting integrity and combating corruption, in accordance with the principles of international law and charters. — SPA