New provisions on corruption charges prevalent in the Kingdom

The Judicial authorities in the Kingdom announced the issuance of prison sentences for a period exceeding 55 years and financial penalties of more than 4 million riyals against 18 accused of corruption, including officials, employees and some commercial entities convicted of corruption cases in a new incident proving that corruption is rampant in the Kingdom.

The Public Prosecution issued a conviction against convicts “a total of sentences exceeding 55 years, and financial penalties exceeding more than 4 million riyals.

Among the convicts in these cases was an executive who had received bribes, benefits and benefits as a bribe from a businessman, breached his job duties, the integrity of the job, and used his influence to pass corruption, as well as his involvement in fraud.

A number of his employees participated in his crimes, exploiting their positions and influence for their personal interests, and they were sentenced to various convictions on charges against them in the public prosecution list, punishing them with imprisonment, fines and confiscation of funds.

It also referred to the “conviction of a businessman for bribing public officials directly through him and through his company and employees, in order to violate the duties and integrity of the public service. He was also convicted of working in an unauthorized business, falsifying editors, and stealing people’s money, and the total sentence against him was 16 years, in addition to financial penalties.

Under Saudi law, these provisions are preliminary and subject to appeal. Courts in Saudi Arabia usually do not release much details of their hearings, do not broadcast them, and do not announce the names of defendants in cases.

A recent study conducted by the National Anti-Corruption Commission showed that Saudis are worried about the prevalence of corruption in government institutions and their demands to punish the corrupt has become more urgent.

Regulators have already monitored dozens of financial and administrative violations and violations in a medical city (not affiliated with the Ministry of Health), most notably the violation of the contents of eight orders, decrees, decisions, regulations and approved regulations, and the adoption of eight internal regulations of its own unapproved, and work with 10 salary scales, and the payment of allowances.

The irregularities included the payment of salaries and financial benefits amounts to some influential managers exceeding the basic salary of some, for example, the salary of a worker in the institution jumped from 5400 riyals in the year of appointment in 2000 to 44,671 riyals in 2017, that is, her salary increased 39,271 riyals in 14 years.

In a recent report, regulators monitored an annual bonus of between two and four times, and revealed an arithmetic error in the collection of allowances when auditing the accounts of January 2017, which resulted in significant differences between salaries, allowances and gross salary. This resulted in the payment of 509,888 riyals in excess of 51 employees.

Corruption is the first enemy of development in any society, and it is difficult to draw any bright reality in the presence of that scourge, which is spreading like cancer in society, which is happening in the Kingdom due to Al-Saud crimes and corruption.