With the repeated Saudi announcements against corruption through the implementation of arrest campaigns; Sometimes against princes and officials, or against officials and senior leaders in more than one party and organization under the pretext of wasting money at other times; Observers are wondering about the seriousness of these allegations after the release of Western reports of unprecedented extravagance and extravagance by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Last Friday, the Saudi authorities announced the dismissal of the commander of the border guards and five prominent officials from their posts and referred them for investigation due to "suspicions of corruption" related to one of the largest tourism projects of Muhammad bin Salman.
According to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), a royal order was issued to refer an official to retirement and exempt a number of officials following irregular encroachments on the lands of the "Red Sea Project", and to investigate all officials.
The royal order also included the termination of the service of the Director General of the Border Guard, Lieutenant General Awad bin Eid al-Balawi, and his retirement, the exemption of the governors of Umluj and al-Wajh in the Tabuk region (north of the Kingdom), and the head of the Soudah Center (southwest), and the exemption of the commanders of the border guard sector in Umluj and al-Wajh.
Not only that, the Mayor of Tabuk and the heads of the municipalities of Amlaj, Al-Wajh and Al-Souda, and responsible for infringements in the secretariats of Medina and Tabuk have also been exempted.
The royal decree stated that the exemptions were made based on what was received from the Royal Commission for Al-Ula Governorate, the Red Sea Company, and the Al-Souda Development Company regarding irregular encroachments on the lands of the Red Sea Project, which exceeded 5,000 cases of abuse.
Arrest of adults
These arrests were not the first, and apparently they will not be the last. In 2017, the authorities launched a campaign of arrests of prominent princes, businessmen and former ministers, and Riyadh said at the time that these arrests came as part of an anti-corruption campaign.
Weeks later, Bloomberg reported - quoting informed sources - that the detainees at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh began to pay the settlement amounts that they were asked to pay in exchange for their release.
A prominent Saudi official indicated that if the detainees agree to pay settlement amounts, they are holding discussions with a special committee to discuss the details of the financial settlement, adding that the settlement value is determined based on the amounts that Riyadh believes that the detainees obtained illegally, and not based on the size of their wealth. And a responsible source estimated that the value of the recoveries ranged between 50 and 100 billion dollars.
The Kingdom is experiencing difficult economic and financial conditions due to the decline in oil prices to low levels, in conjunction with the repercussions of the Corona pandemic, which led to a sharp slowdown in business growth, not to mention Riyadh being forced to cancel Umrah visits and the Hajj season, which caused the budget to lose huge revenues. The country was forced to resort to issuing bonds in order to cover expenses and fill the huge deficit.
Waste and extravagance
However, all the Saudi authorities ’talk about fighting corruption and transparency does not find their way to ratification, in light of what was revealed by the American" Wall Street Journal "a few days ago that the crown prince spent 50 million dollars on a special ceremony on the occasion of his assumption of the throne.
The newspaper talked about the incident in the luxurious "Villa Private Island" resort in the Maldives, referring to the docking of boats carrying 150 women from Brazil, Russia and other countries, where each one of them was taken to a clinic to examine sexually transmitted diseases, before each of them settled in a private villa. Out.
The newspaper said in a report published last Thursday that women were scheduled to spend most of the month with their hosts, who are dozens of friends of the young prince, and employees were prevented from bringing mobile devices equipped with cameras, and American rapper Pitbull and South Korean star Sae made a show there.
Earlier, the American New York Times revealed that Mohammed bin Salman bought in 2015 - that is, when his father Salman took the throne - the most expensive house in the world, which is the palace of King Louis XIV, located in Loviens near Paris, with a value of $ 300 million.
The newspaper stated that the area of the palace is more than 23 thousand hectares, surrounded by a picturesque nature, and in the center is a gold-plated fountain.
The crown prince's extravagance was not limited to lavish parties and luxurious homes, as the New York Times revealed that Mohammed bin Salman had bought Leonardo Da Vinci's painting "Savior" for $ 450 million in late 2017.
The Western press also revealed that bin Salman bought a $ 550 million yacht in 2016 during a short vacation in southern France, as the yacht reaches a length of 440 feet, and includes swimming pools, 12 luxurious rooms and two helicopter landing pads.
Austerity policy,
so the young prince would have bought a house, a yacht and a painting worth $ 1.3 billion, while his country was pursuing austerity policy that led it to doubling the value tax from 5 to 15% at once, in light of economic crises due to the losing oil wars waged by the Saudi crown prince.
The Saudi authorities have also, earlier, stopped the cost of living allowance that the government spends monthly to its citizens benefiting from pensions and social security.
Observers believe that the Saudi authorities' persistence in focusing on announcing anti-corruption campaigns is nothing more than an attempt to divert attention from the poor economic conditions in the kingdom due to the extravagance of Mohammed bin Salman and his "unwise" financial policies.