Bin Salman arrests soldiers loyal to Muhammad bin Nayef

A Saudi security force carried out a massive campaign of arrests, including military personnel, on charges of loyalty to former Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef.

Saudi sources told Saudi Leaks that the new campaign of arrests affected most of them, soldiers and members of the Ministry of Interior, soldiers and officers in the Saudi army.

The sources confirmed that the arrest campaign comes within the “obsession” of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman with the influence of bin Nayef and the fear of an internal coup against him.

The sources downplayed the validity of the Saudi Control and Anti-Corruption Authority’s (Nazaha) announcement that it had arrested 207 citizens and residents in various cases.

It confirmed that the arrests included military officers and soldiers on loyalty to Prince Muhammad bin Nayef.

And the head of the Supervisory Authority, Mazen Al-Kahmous, had previously said that bin Salman was fully aware of the moves that were made against several Saudi Defense Ministry officers, who were arrested on allegations of corruption.

From time to time, bin Salman launches an attack against princes from the royal family and government officials under the pretext of corruption as part of his successive steps to consolidate the bonds of his rule.

Bin Salman does not stop pursuing princes and officials, each in his position, fearing the growth of opponents of his policies within the Kingdom, which witnesses daily crimes and arrests. At the same time, corruption is used as a pretext for this.

Corruption and looting of money are rampant in the Kingdom, in light of the involvement of senior princes and officials in the Al Saud regime, in light of successive scandals that resonated in international circles.

Recent data reveal that the corruption bill engulfing the Gulf is enormous, as it has amounted during the last five years to about $320 billion, according to a report by a London-based Economist.

The Kingdom leads the Gulf countries in terms of the number of corruption cases and the number of looted funds worth 180 billion dollars, as corruption has become rampant in many economic activities in the Kingdom.

American journalist Pan Hubbard, author of the biography of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, issued in the fall of 2020, considered that the slogan of fighting corruption is nothing but the prince’s reckless slack to the exclusion of his political opponents and rivals for power.

Hubbard stated, in his biography, that the dismissal of the Saudi monarch, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, of his nephew.

Prince Fahd bin Turki Abdulaziz Al Saud, commander of the fighting forces in Yemen affiliated with the Saudi-led military coalition, came at the behest of bin Salman.

Under the same banner with which he dismissed many of his opponents since November 2017, specifically when about 350 members of the ruling elite were arrested.

They were imprisoned in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, then most of them were released after 15 weeks, but after paying huge sums of money.

He pointed out that the decision to dismiss Prince Fahd bin Turki was based on what was referred by “Bin Salman” to the Control and Anti-Corruption Authority.

To investigate what was described as “suspicious financial transactions in the Ministry of Defense,” which may have a shadow of the truth.

Hubbard said: Corruption is rampant among members of the royal family.

The American journalist gave an example of several ruling family members borrowing money from Saudi banks without repaying it.

And the appropriation of princes – as advisers to foreign investors – on plots of land with prior knowledge of licensing them as building areas, then selling them after their prices increased and benefiting from their profits.