RIYADH — Attendees to a seminar hosted by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha) on Tuesday were left speechless when a senior official said that the tea and coffee served during the event cost the Nazaha SR20,000. Abdullah Abdul Qadir, vice president of Nazaha, chaired a session of the seminar. During the session, one of the media persons asked him about the expense of the seminar. His reply was that the hall is free but the tea and coffee cost the Nazaha SR20,000, Al-Watan newspaper reported on Wednesday. Osama Al-Rabiah, another vice president of Nazaha, said that he was not in a position to reveal to the media the body's response about the issues of corruption raised by the local media during the year, the newspaper reported. He was reacting to queries on the sidelines of the seminar titled “The role of media and cultural organizations in strengthening Nazaha and combating corruption.” Addressing the seminar, Khaled Al-Suleiman, deputy chairman of the Saudi society for writers in opinion pages, said that these writers are partners of government agencies in fighting corruption and as such they should not be treated as rivals.
