Saudi Arabia Arrests 207 Gov’t Employees on Corruption Charges

Saudi Arabia announced late Monday that its National Anti-Corruption Commission had ordered the arrest of 207 employees across about a dozen government ministries, as well as the national guard, in the latest purge by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s anti-corruption body. The crown prince has used the body to help consolidate his power and bring assets worth around $106 billion under the kingdom’s, and his, control. More than 460 people were investigated in this latest clean-out; those detained will be charged with corruption, abuse of authority and fraud. In April, the commission did a “spring cleaning” that resulted in the arrest of 176 public sector employees. It’s not known whether, as happened in 2017, the crown prince plans to hold the latest detainees, incommunicado, as unwilling “guests” at Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel, or how many billions of dollars they may be expected to transfer to government coffers to pay for their crimes.