RIYADH (Dispatches) – A court in Saudi Arabia issued stiff sentences on Wednesday to eight people convicted on various ‘corruption’ charges, including a governor and a judge. Details of their sentences were reported in the Arab media.
Among the most prominent jailed was a judge who was sentenced to ten years in prison for bribery and fined up to 300,000 Saudi riyals ($80,000). Another was a governor who was convicted of bribery and embezzlement. He was given a three-year prison sentence and a fine of 25,000 Saudi riyals ($6,600),” reported the Saudi Press Agency.
There are six other cases involving 16 defendants, most of whom are government employees. They all received sentences between 18 months and 11 years in prison. They were charged with “forgery, bribery, money laundering, breach of the integrity of the public office and abuse of their power.”
These are the latest sentences in the ongoing anti-corruption crackdown accelerated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Critics have expressed doubts over the crackdown, claiming that the de facto ruler has exploited the issue to go after his personal opponents.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) announced the arrest of a further 207 citizens and expatriates on various charges, including bribery, abuse of power and forgery. The detainees include employees in the defense, interior, national guard, health, justice and other ministries.
In November last year, Saudi officials arrested 226 people allegedly involved in 158 cases of corruption including money laundering, bribery and fraud within the ministry of defense involving up to $325 million.
A whistleblower website says the recent purge ordered by bin Salman actually centered on those of the country’s servicemen, whom the royal suspected of allegiance to his ill-fated predecessor Mohammed bin Nayef.