Two leading officials in Riyadh Region's Directorate of Health Affairs have been discovered to have connived with six other people, one of whom was the owner of a hotel, in several crimes the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) cited the Control and Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha) as saying Sunday. The eight people have been indicted for crimes including abuse of power, exploiting their influence due to their posts, involvement in bribes and exploiting contracts concluded by the Ministry of Health to provide accommodation to Saudi returnees from abroad to spend their quarantine period. On looking into several criminal cases, the results of investigations showed that a leading official in the Ministry of Tourism had committed two crimes — abuse of administrative power and being negligent about public funds, by allowing an overcharged prices quotation to be forwarded to the Ministry of Health. The purpose of the quotation was to provide housing for Saudi returnees from abroad to spend their quarantine period in, the Commission announced. The investigation ended with his admission of his violation and wasting public money, and work is under way to complete the necessary procedures of those involved to refer them to the court. In another case, the Commission discovered a military man and a Health Ministry employee of conniving with an expatriate in forging 31 mobility permits during the curfew period. They had already found someone ready to purchase the quantity of counterfeit permits for SR93,000. The Commission, in coordination with the police department of Riyadh region, stated this case was facilitated by one of the military personnel working in the Ministry of Interior in an attempt to exploit the permit granted to him due to the nature of his job. In order to obtain financial benefits he cooperated with a relative of his working at the Ministry of Health so that the latter coordinated with one of the residents to counterfeit the permits papers for the purpose of selling them for an amount of SR3,000 per permit. The Commission also called upon everyone to take the initiative and report through its available channels about any financial or administrative corruption practices to prevent undermining the existing efforts in containing the novel coronavirus pandemic or wasting public money in any way. The Commission noted that the crimes of financial and administrative corruption has no statute of limitations, and that Article Sixteen from the anti-bribery law, exempted both the perpetrator and the mediator from the original and subordinate punishment when initiating the reporting of the crime before it was discovered. Nazaha urged citizens, residents and those involved to quickly provide any information they have through the available reporting channels. The Commission thanked the Minister of interior for the exerted efforts by Riyadh's Region Police Department, the Minister of Tourism and the Minister of Health for their cooperation. It also reiterated that the abuse committed by any employee is an individual behavior that does not represent the entity in any way, and it will continue to exercise its jurisdiction according to the rule of law, and the application of regulations against everyone who wastes public funds or violates the duties. The Commission also thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, may Allah protect them, for their unlimited support for Nazaha to exercise its authority to protect public funds and hold those negligent accountable. — SPA
