Report: Saudi Arabia investigates more people in ‘anti-corruption’ purge

Saudi authorities have expanded their anti-corruption purge, investigating more people and freezing more bank accounts, Bloomberg reported yesterday.

The agency cited unnamed sources which it said were familiar with the situation in Saudi Arabia as saying that seven weeks after the “anti-corruption campaign” began, the Saudi authorities are detaining new suspects and releasing some of the old ones.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Monetary Agency (SAMA) has ordered Saudi banks to freeze the accounts of a larger number of persons who have not been detained, including the accounts of their relatives and those linked to them.

Bloomberg said the Saudi authorities did not respond to its request to comment to the reports while the Saudi Monetary Agency referred its questions to the prosecutor’s office.

Saudi Attorney General, Sheikh Saud Al-Mujib, said the Saudi government hopes to recover nearly $100 billion from the detained Saudi princes and billionaires.

Read: Saudi Crown Prince: 95% of those arrested agreed to return funds

Saudi Arabia has introduced a new measure which allows the state authorities to recover some of the detainees’ funds without resorting to courts.

The procedure allows the suspects to deposit funds in a bank account in exchange for dropping all charges.