Five Saudi officials accused of corruption jailed, fined a total of SAR9m

Five officials accused of financial corruption and administrative fraud in Saudi Arabia have been jailed and fined a collective SAR9m, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

All the funds in their personal bank accounts were also seized.

The kingdom’s public prosecution office collected 300 items of evidence against the defendants, the report stated.

The charges against the defendants included wasting public funds and selling government property without authority.

One of the officials, who was accused of receiving bribes, committing forgery, and exploiting his official position for personal favours, was given a 12 year jail sentence and fined more than SAR1m, the report added.

Saudi has been aggressively cracking down on corruption under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Read: Saudi defence ministry official arrested on SAR1m bribery charge

In November 2017, authorities detained hundreds of top businessmen and royals and held them for months at the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton Hotel as part of an anti-corruption investigation.

Also read: Saudi begins investigating corruption detainees who did not settle