Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) announced on Monday the arrest of a number of government officials, as well as citizens and expatriates who were accused of corruption charges involving millions of riyals. The Nazaha spokesman said that the authority had initiated a number of criminal cases during the last period and the work is underway to complete the legal procedures against the perpetrators.

The most prominent of these cases was the arrest of two non-commissioned officers and two expatriates for their involvement in submitting incorrect documents by which an amount of SR1.3 million was spent in an irregular manner, and it was found that the amount spent was shared among them.

Three expatriates were arrested after they caught red-handed while handing over SR4000 to a bank employee in exchange for depositing cash amounting to SR316,000 in bank accounts belonging to commercial entities and transferring that money abroad without filing a suspicious report about the account to the central bank. It was revealed through investigations that the total sums deposited in those accounts and transfers abroad amounted to SR2,981,000.

The spokesman said that six expatriates working in companies, which are contracting with government hospitals in different regions, were arrested for seizing medicines not intended for sale from the hospitals where they work and selling them inside Saudi Arabia, and smuggling part of them abroad in an illegal way, with an estimated value of SR1,031,000 in cash.

The Nazaha also caught a citizen red-handed when handing over SR30,000 to one of the forensic officials in return for exchanging DNA samples to prove lineage. A former employee of a municipality was arrested for accepting a sum amounting to SR158,000 in exchange for issuing land deed for a citizen.

The Nazaha spokesman said that three former employees of a local bank were detained for accepting SR210,000 from a businessman, who was arrested, in exchange for completing the procedures for requesting real estate financing in an illegal manner. The director of security and safety in a private company was caught red-handed while accepting SR30,000 out of SR100,000, in exchange for not recording violations of a company that subcontracted with his employer, and facilitating the procedures for disbursing its dues amounting to SR1.5 million.

A former employee of a mayoralty was arrested for accepting, during his service period, SR80,000 in return for condoning construction violations in a building owned by a businessman, who was also arrested. The spokesman stated that a citizen working in an engineering office was arrested for accepting SR20,000 in exchange for preparing a cadastral report that contradicts reality for a site owned by two citizens, and for obtaining a building completion certificate through the office in which he works. An employee of a commercial entity affiliated with a local bank caught red-handed while receiving SR8000 in return for facilitating the disbursement of special payments for a real estate loan in an illegal manner.

The Nazaha officials also arrested an employee, former non-commissioned officer in the Ministry of National Guard, an expatriate who previously worked at the ministry, and a notary public for issuing legal proxies in the names of fictitious persons and trying to obtain government subsidies using those proxies. Another expatriate was arrested for obtaining SR28,000 in exchange for installing two electric meters for two properties without registering their data in the Saudi Electricity Company system.

The spokesman noted that an employee working in the Ministry of Health was arrested for accepting sums of money from a citizen who was already detained and that is in exchange for issuing medical reports for a number of patients at a mental health hospital so as to benefit from it by registering their data in Social Security and Comprehensive Rehabilitation schemes.

An expatriate was caught red-handed while he was paying SR3000 to a bank employee in return for opening an account in the name of a commercial entity owned by a female citizen to be used to transfer funds outside the Kingdom.

Similarly, an expatriate working as an engineer in an engineering consultancy office caught red-handed while receiving SR10000 out of SR400,000 in return for completing the procedures for updating a land deed with incorrect information.

Another expatriate was arrested when he handed over SR25,000 to an Aramco security employee in return for enabling him to get hold of materials from its warehouses and overlooking the increase in the weights of the truckloads he drives.

An expatriate working as an engineer in a company that contracted with the Saudi Electricity Company was arrested for accepting SR47,658 in return for facilitating the issuance of professional licenses for a commercial entity in an illegal manner.

Another expatriate engineer working in an engineering consulting firm was arrested for paying SR55,000 in exchange for condoning some contractual abuses of a project. An expatriate was caught red-handed when receiving SR4,500 from the representative of a commercial entity contracted with the Ministry of Education at the request of an employee working in the education department, who was detained, in exchange for facilitating disproportionate amount for the project. It was revealed through investigations that the latter requested SR1500 per month from the representative of the commercial entity, toward the salary of a female citizen who asked to register her data as an employee thereof, and her salaries are delivered to him in cash.

The spokesperson confirmed that Nazaha continues to monitor and control anyone who encroaches on public money or exploits the job to achieve his personal interest or to harm the public interest and hold him accountable even after the end of his service period. It said that stringent punitive measures will be taken against the violators.