30.01.12 MACCS
Saudi anti-corruption body aims high
Saudi Arabia's new anti-corruption body has said that it “will not hesitate to strike at corruption wherever it is”.
The National Authority for Combating Corruption has been tasked by King Abdullah with cracking down on financial abuses in government departments, following
increasing reports that corruption was growing in the Kingdom.
It was created last year, largely as a result of the flood which hit the port of
Jeddah in 2010. The aftermath of this, according to Commission head Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Sharif, “clearly illustrated the poor performance of government departments because of
bribery and widespread corruption”.
The Commission will work to complement the Kingdom's General Auditing Bureau, which said recently that public institutions are performing poorly and are
viewed with distrust due to graft.
The King, perhaps fearing public anger over corruption as in other Arab
countries, has been vocal in ordering the Commission to tackle corruption. He
insisted
that there should be “no exceptions” to the investigations, suggesting a
willingness to tackle entrenched power structures within the government.
A number of these have apparently already been resisting the work of the
Commission. Al Sharif said that several authorities had been uncooperative, and
said
that the Commission would be publishing the names of these authorities in a bid
to
shame them into compliance.
Given the overlap between public and private corruption in Saudi Arabia (as
elsewhere), it remains to be seen whether the Commission's public remit will be
a
hindrance to its work. The apparent vigour with which it is operating, and with
which the King is supporting it, suggests that it will start actively rooting
out
corruption in the Kingdom.
Sources: Arab News, Wall Street Journal