RIYADH — The National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha) said it has uncovered corruption in 789 of the 1,018 government projects it investigated for administrative and financial violations. In a report, published on Monday by local daily Al-Madina, the commission said these projects were either faltering, delayed or badly executed. Nazaha complained the ministers or senior government officials to whom it conveys its remarks and observations usually do not deal with them personally. “The ministers send back to us replies without any official comment,” it said in a statement. It said most of these replies, written by the ministers' subordinates, were defensive. Nazaha also complained that some ministries and government departments would not help its staff do their job or provide them with the required documents that may help them follow up the corruption cases. The commission said under the pretext of confidentiality, some ministries resort to concealing data. Nazaha also said that some senior officials would ask the commission to wait until they obtain the permission of their superiors. “A lot of time is lost in this process. This will deprive our staff of the element of surprise that is necessary for detecting corruption.”
