Saudi officials involved in largest-ever corruption case in Spain

Anti-war campaigners protest at a Spanish port against the arrival of a Saudi cargo ship believed to be carrying US and Canadian manufactured arms to Yemen on 10 December 2019 [Twitter]

The public prosecutor of Spain’s Anti-Corruption Court has issued an indictment against Saudi officials, revealing their involvement in the largest-ever corruption case in the country, Alkhaleejonline.com reported on Friday.

According to Alkhaleejonline.com, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported the Spanish public prosecutor stating that a state-owned company, which markets goods manufactured in Spain, paid bribes to Saudi officials worth €100 million, over two and a half decades.

After ten years of investigations, it was revealed that the Spanish firm signed 11 deals to export arms to Saudi Arabia, violating Spanish laws.

READ: Major sporting events in Saudi Arabia ‘sportwash’ the dire human rights situation

According to the Spanish prosecutor, the former Saudi military attaché of the Saudi embassy in Madrid is among the culprits being accused of money laundering, misuse of public funds, forgery and forming a criminal gang.

Recent data issued by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found that Saudi Arabia was the largest arms importer between 2008 and 2017, after India, noting that 98 per cent of the imports came from the US.

SIPRI also noted that the Middle East countries received 32 per cent of the global arms sales between 2013 and 2017.

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