RIYADH – The extent of corruption in the Kingdom has not been identified yet, says Muhammad Al-Shareef, chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. The level of corruption does not tally with the gigantic budget of the state, Al-Shareef told Al-Arabiya TV Channel in a recent interview. The NACC seeks to nail corrupt officials and root out any form of corruption that takes place in government projects and contracts, Al-Shareef added. The Ministry of Finance had opened a bank account six years ago asking anyone who took government money illegally to deposit it into the account, Al-Shareef said. The ministry guaranteed that the name of the depositor and his personal information would remain confidential and the person would be discharged from any liability. “Around SR215 million has been deposited into the account over the past six years.” During the interview, Al-Shareef commented on the huge difference between the gigantic volume of government projects and the comparatively low amounts of money that have been deposited in the account. He said the NACC had regained huge sums of money but investigations were still going on into those charged with large-scale corruption. “As you know, such investigations take a long time as they require detailed scrutiny of information and provision of sufficient evidence before cases are referred to the courts,” he said. If anyone needs to be arrested over a certain case, the NACC uses the help of security officers, Al-Shareef explained, adding that the nature of the case determines whether the arrested person should remain in police custody or be released on bail. One of the key tools the NACC relies on in discovering corruption is information passed on by members of the general public on specific acts of corruption. — SG
