The official spokesman of the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority stated that the Authority has initiated several criminal cases lately, and legal procedures against the accused are currently underway.
The most prominent cases were:
1st case: A Saudi businessman was arrested for offering 1,600,000 SR to a customs broker in exchange for facilitating the entry of two shipping containers through Jeddah Islamic Port containing tobacco, a restricted import, to evade customs duties totaling 14,000,000 SR.
2nd case: An employee of the Ministry of Health was arrested for receiving 900,000 SR, paid in installments, in exchange for illegally awarding several projects to a commercial entity.
3rd case: With the cooperation of the Ministry of Energy, a resident working on one of the Ministry’s projects was arrested while receiving 200,000 SR in exchange for refraining from issuing fines and violations totaling 1,500,000 SR against a commercial entity.
4th case: A resident employed by an engineering consultancy firm and appointed by the Commercial Court as an expert in a commercial dispute was arrested after being caught in the act of receiving 50,000 SR out of an agreed 100,000 SR in exchange for unlawfully preparing a technical report in favor of one of the parties to the dispute.
5th case: With the cooperation of the Ministry of Interior, a former officer of the General Directorate of Passports was arrested for receiving a total of 60,500 SR in exchange for illegally processing official transactions related to expatriates.
6th case: An employee of the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority was arrested after being caught in the act of receiving 55,000 SR in exchange for illegally altering the status of goods imported into Saudi Arabia.
7th case: Two municipal employees in a governorate were arrested for receiving 40,000 SR in exchange for unlawfully processing transactions.
8th case: An employee of a regional municipality was arrested after being caught in the act of receiving 10,000 SR out of an agreed 50,000 SR in exchange for completing the processing of a citizen’s transaction at the municipality.
9th case: An employee of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development was arrested after being caught in the act of receiving 10,000 SR in exchange for refraining from issuing violations against a commercial entity owned by a citizen during field inspections.
10th case: An employee of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development and a citizen were arrested after the former received 2,500 SR from the latter in exchange for providing a falsified letter addressed to the General Directorate of Passports to cancel an absconding report filed against an expatriate, enabling the transfer of the expatriate’s sponsorship to the citizen.
11th case: Four municipal employees in a governorate were arrested for unlawfully hiring relatives and disbursing funds as salaries to several expatriate municipal employees for their own benefit.
12th case: A resident employed at a healthcare facility was arrested for receiving a sum of money in exchange for issuing a medical examination report and laboratory test results for an expatriate without the individual’s presence and uploading the reports through the Balady electronic platform.
13th case: With the cooperation of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance, an employee of the Ministry was arrested for misappropriating several computers while serving as the warehouse keeper.
14th case: An employee of a driving school was arrested after being caught in the act of receiving a sum of money from a resident in exchange for completing the procedures for issuing a driver’s license without the applicant attending the school.
15th case: The manager of a Periodic Vehicle Inspection Station in one of the regions and another employee at the same station were arrested for receiving sums of money in exchange for illegally completing vehicle inspection procedures.
The official spokesman for Nazaha affirmed that the Authority will continue to pursue anyone who exploits public office for personal gain or to harm the public interest, and that they will be held accountable even after leaving public office, as financial and administrative corruption offenses are not subject to a statute of limitations. The Authority will continue to enforce the law against offenders with zero tolerance for corruption.