RIYADH: An official from Saudi Arabia’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority, also known as Nazaha, has revealed details of a number of recent criminal cases it recently investigated and prosecuted.
In one of the biggest cases, a bank employee was arrested for receiving gifts, including travel and accommodation expenses, from a citizen and a resident, who were also arrested, in return for depositing SR7 million ($1.87 million) from an unknown source in bank accounts belonging to a commercial entity.
According to investigators, as much as SR136 million was deposited by the citizen and the resident at banks in the Kingdom and transferred abroad over a period of five months.
In a second case, a resident working at an engineering consultancy firm was caught red-handed receiving SR400,000, from a total payment of SR2.8 million, in return for issuing a license for the illegal construction of an industrial compound. The scheme also involved an employee at the local municipality, who was caught in the act receiving SR1 million.
Another case involved an engineer at a communications company and two mediators who were caught receiving SR225,000 of a SR450,000 payment in return for extending a network-implementation contract between the company and a commercial entity, after the engineer sent an e-mail threatening the termination of the contract unless the payment was made.
In a separate case, a resident was caught receiving SR162,000 in return for reducing a penalty imposed by a municipality on a warehouse operator. Investigators found that the ultimate recipient of the payment was the manager of technical affairs at the municipality, who was caught accepting the payment from the resident. The investigation also revealed that the manager had received SR1 million in return for assisting with illegal property purchases.
Meanwhile, a municipality employee was caught accepting SR150,000 of a SR250,000 payment in return for approving a license for a building constructed in an illegal fashion.
Another case involved a resident working for a charitable organization as a medical-procedures analyst who was caught in the act accepting a SR15,000 payment for issuing an approval by the organization for a resident to receive medical treatment.
Nazaha said it continues to work to identify and prosecute anyone involved in the embezzlement of public funds, abuse of power and position for personal gain, or otherwise harming the public interest. It stressed that guilty parties can be pursued and held accountable even after retirement because there is no statute of limitations on such crimes.
