Saudi Arabia’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) has initiated investigations into criminal offenses related to bribery and has taken the necessary legal measures against the perpetrators, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Tuesday.
The statement highlighted 16 prominent cases.
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One case pertains to detaining a bank employee for receiving gifts from a citizen and a resident in exchange for depositing money in which the source is unknown into an account of a commercial entity.
The citizen and resident also covered the employee’s travel costs and issued him a residency in exchange for depositing the money which amounts to around seven million riyals ($1,865,490).
Both the citizen and the resident were detained.
The total amount of money deposited by the two men in the commercial entity’s accounts in banks across the Kingdom is 136 million riyals ($36,243,817), Nazaha said, adding that the money has been transferred overseas over the period of five months.
In another case, a resident who works at an engineering consulting firm was caught red-handed while receiving 400,000 riyals ($106,599) out of a promised 2.8 million riyals ($746,196) in exchange for finalizing the procedures for a permit to construct an industrial complex illegally.
The employee was working with a municipality employee to get the permit issued, Nazaha said, adding that the latter was also caught red-handed while receiving 1 million riyals ($266,501).
A third resident involved in the case was also detained.
A third case involves a resident who was arrested after he was caught receiving 162,000 riyals ($43,173) in exchange for decreasing a penalty fee issued by a municipality against a warehouse.
The bribe was supposed to go to the head of the technical affairs committee in the municipality which issued the penalty, Nazaha said, adding that the employee was also arrested while taking the money from the resident.
The municipality employee had received 1 million riyals ($266,491) in bribes in exchange for illegally finalizing paperwork used to buy real-estate, Nazaha said.
In another case, a resident who works at a charity association was caught red-handed while receiving 15,000 riyals ($3,997) in exchange for getting an approval from the association to provide medical treatment for another resident.
In a fifth case, three non-commissioned officers at a traffic department and a resident were detained for selling motorbikes, which have been seized by the authorities for not complying with the law, after jamming surveillance cameras.
Nazaha stressed that it would continue to pursue those who exploit their jobs to achieve personal gain or harm public interest, adding that it will hold violators accountable even if they no longer hold their job since crimes related to administrative and financial corruption do not have a statute of limitations.
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