Corruption is viewed as a social evil all over the world. It can be eliminated by extremely severe measures. As a reward, a fair victory in this battle opens the way to a prosperous economy.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman launched a major crackdown against the local corrupted elite. As a result, a special anti-corruption force arrested more than a dozen of top officials, five members of the Royal family, and several businessmen – in total over 60 people involved in the scandals. Another tough decision is to seize $800 billion in assets from those detained to replenish the state treasury.
The Kingdom’s central bank has already started confiscation of the dubious assets. Among other measures is the regulator’s order to suspend bank accounts of some officials who are under investigation but have not faced charges yet. Following the long tradition, corruptionists withdrew a part of their illegal income outside of the Kingdom. Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia’s authorities are determined to do everything possible to repatriate overseas funds. In this case, almost $1 trillion could fill in the state coffers. A long period of low oil prices dealt a blow to the Saudi’s economy, forcing the government to borrow from foreign lending institutions and spending from the Reserve Fund.
Interestingly, Crown Prince and heir to the throne Mohammed bin Salman is also at the helm of the anti-corruption agency. He stressed that recent arrests are the beginning of a large-scale anti-corruption campaign without mercy neither for ministers, nor princes, nor buddies.
