With the advent of Saturday evening, Safar 15, 1439 AH, corresponding to November 04, 2017, the Saudi people found themselves facing the implementation of a promise made to them by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud – may God protect him – in his speech that he delivered on Tuesday, Jumada Al-Awwal 19, 1436, in which he promised to eliminate On corruption and preserving public money, he said: “My brothers and sisters… development is a necessary feature of the state since the days of the founder – may God have mercy on him – and modernization will continue according to the progress witnessed by our society, and in accordance with our religious principles and social values, and preserves the rights of all groups of society.” . Then he added – may God protect him – saying: “We have directed a review of the oversight bodies’ systems in a way that guarantees strengthening their competencies, improving the performance of their tasks and responsibilities, contributing to eliminating corruption, preserving public money, and ensuring that negligent people are held accountable.”
Summons campaign
On November 4, 2017, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, issued a royal decree to form a supreme committee headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the membership of the head of the Oversight and Investigation Authority, the head of the National Anti-Corruption Authority, the head of the General Auditing Bureau, the Attorney General, and the head of State Security. As an exception to the laws, regulations, instructions, orders and decisions, the committee lists the violations, crimes, persons and entities involved in public corruption cases, investigates and issues arrest warrants and travel bans, and takes the necessary measures with those involved in public corruption cases.
As the date of issuance of this decision witnessed orders of detention against a number of leaders and officials in high positions in the state, to investigate suspicions of corruption in public money, as this step was considered as a warning bell to others, who implicated themselves in a direct or other way, to work to settle their situation, and to work on The interests of the citizen before their interests, whether they are in governmental or private positions that affect the life of the citizen in this benevolent country.
A popular and official celebration
On the evening of November 4, 2017, the Saudi people celebrated, at the popular and official levels, whether in the various media or social media platforms, the decision of the Committee to List Public Corruption Violations, which the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques ordered to be established under the chairmanship of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and they considered that the royal orders that It was issued by the Saudi monarch, and it comes within the framework of his war against corruption with firmness and determination, in a qualitative step aimed at rooting out corruption from its roots and holding the corrupt accountable and anyone who harms public money, and that the rationale for the royal order depended on what was observed of exploitation by some weak-minded people who prevailed over their own interests over interest. They assaulted public money without any scruples of religion, conscience, morals or patriotism, taking advantage of their influence and the power they were entrusted with to attack, misuse and embezzle public money.
Global echoes and endorsement
Positive reactions and wide interest in the decisions taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to fight corruption, and many international and regional media outlets, including Al-Arabiya channel, highlighted the news of the Saudi campaign to fight corruption, noting the arrest of 11 princes and the dismissal of 3 officials.
The British newspaper, the Financial Times, indicated that the anti-corruption campaign comes in conjunction with the Saudi Crown Prince's move towards a radical economic reform program to rid the Kingdom of dependence on oil revenues, and added that the Saudi Crown Prince's statements earlier this year, in which he said: « No one involved in corruption will be able to escape, even if he is a prince or a minister. The American newspaper, The New York Times, touched on the Saudi measures, describing them as “the new step in a series of targeted steps,” and reported that many Saudis praised the steps taken by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, especially in addressing the economic problems facing the Kingdom, and moving forward with An ambitious plan aimed at reducing dependence on oil in the future. And the CNN news network quoted in its report excerpts from the Saudi royal order to form a committee to fight corruption, and the network pointed out that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who heads the Anti-Corruption Committee, is seen by the Saudis as a strong man and reformer, and added that since his appointment As crown prince, some restrictions on women were lifted, adding that he called for the destruction of extremist ideologies and a return to moderate Islam.
The crown prince suppresses corruption
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke a lot about fighting corruption, starting with the promise he made to everyone in a televised interview before the royal order to form a committee to fight corruption, when he said, “No one involved in corruption will be able to escape, even if he is a prince or a minister.” After the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques directed In an interview with the American New York Times conducted by writer Thomas Friedman, published (Friday, November 24), His Highness affirmed that 4% of the detainees denied corruption charges, and expressed their desire to go to court, indicating that the Attorney General It is expected that the value of the amounts recovered through the settlement will reach about $ 100 billion. And the Crown Prince indicated, saying: When King Salman bin Abdulaziz came to power in 2015 (at a time when the world was witnessing a decline in oil prices), he made a promise to himself to put an end to all this, adding: “My father saw that it was not possible for us to remain within (G-20), while our country is growing with this level of corruption, earlier in 2015, the first orders my father gave to his team was to collect all the data related to corruption in the upper class, and the team worked for two full years until they came to collect this most information Accuracy, and then they came up with about 200 names ». And Prince Muhammad bin Salman continued that when all the data was ready, the Attorney General Saud Al-Mojeb moved, and made it clear that everyone who was suspected, whether he was a billionaire or a prince, was arrested and put in front of two options: “We showed them all the files in our possession. And as soon as they saw it, 95 percent of them agreed to settlements,” which means they have to pay money or put shares from their companies in the Saudi Ministry of Finance. And the Crown Prince added, saying: There is no way in which corruption can be eradicated unless it is from the top to the bottom, "therefore you have to send a signal, and the signal that everyone will take seriously is (that you will not escape by your act, and we are already seeing the effect of that." The measures recently taken by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which mainly aimed at eliminating corruption and financial manipulation, were a certificate of guarantee that the Kingdom offers to the world, to ensure the success of its transformational project towards modernity, prosperity and diversification of the economy.
Abdul Rahman Al-Khatrish (Jazan) okaz9 @
