Authorities have arrested an employee of the Ministry of Health for allegedly siphoning off a total of SR1.2 million from a ministry's payroll account with a local bank, a ministry official said. The embezzlement operation was discovered after a regular audit of the ministry salary account with the local bank, said Khaled Mirghalani, spokesman of the Ministry of Health. The audit team found suspicious transactions of two money transfers worth SR1.2 million last month from the ministry's account into the employee's account. The man is believed to have stolen the username and password of the ministry's account from one of his colleagues authorized to access the account, Mirghalani said. During the initial investigation, the man admitted the theft and was then referred to authorities on embezzlement charges. The amount embezzled will not affect the February checks, Mirghalani said. The ministry will issue an announcement of disciplinary measures to be taken against the employee, he said.
