The Saudi King Salman announced two key changes in the cabinet and ordered the formation of a super committee to combat corruption. The committee is to be headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In its first decision, the committee ordered the arrests of a number of princes and big businessmen for their involvement in corruption in different cases.
The two key changes in the Cabinet were that of National Guard Minister Miteb bin Abdullah, who was replaced by Prince Khaled bin Ayyaf, and Economy Minister Adel Fakih, who was replaced by his deputy, Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri.
Commander of the Navy, Abdullah Al-Sultan, was relieved of his position and has been replaced by Adm. Fahad Al-Ghofaili.
Besides the crown prince, the committee comprises heads of the Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha), Public Security, General Prosecutor and the Investigation Authority.
Particularly remarkable is the replacement of prince Miteb, the preferred son of the late king Abdullah.
As Reuters mentions: he was once thought to be a leading contender for the throne before the unexpected rise of Prince Mohammed two years ago. He had inherited control of the National Guard, an elite internal security force built out of traditional tribal units, from his father, who ran it for five decades.Prince Miteb was the last remaining member of Abdullah’s branch of the family to hold a position in the upper echelons of the Saudi power structure.
The job of the new anti-corruption committee will be to “identify offenses, crimes, persons and entities involved in cases of public corruption,” the royal decree said.
The committee is empowered to investigate, issue arrest warrants and travel bans, order financial disclosure and the freezing of accounts and portfolios, track funds and assets and prevent their remittance or transfer by persons and entities.
“The committee has the right to take any precautionary measures it sees fit, until they are referred to the investigating authorities or judicial bodies,” said the decree.
“It may take whatever measures deemed necessary to deal with those involved in public corruption cases and take what it considers to be the right of persons, entities, funds, fixed and movable assets, at home and abroad, return funds to the state treasury and register property and assets in the name of state property.”
What can be said about this news is that the new development again enhances greatly the position of king Salman's son, Mohammed bin Salam, who in June became the crown prince. Since that moment Saudi Arabia has seen a lot of changes. There was the announcent of the ambitious plan to transform the country's oil economy, Vision 2030." Recently Saudi Arabia has announced an end to its long-standing ban on allowing women to drive, and Mohammed bin Salman has also promised to return the country to a "moderate" form of Islam.
Since 2015 Saudi Arabia has been at war against Houthi rebels, who control much of northern Yemen on the kingdom's southern border. The dismissal of Miteb bin Abdullah as National Guard minister came shortly after a a long range missile attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Riyadh's King Khaled International Airport, but it is unlikely that there is a connection between the two.
Al Jazeera English names also the 14 men that have been arrested in the anti corruption drive:
- Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, owner of Kingdom Holding group
- Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, former commander of the National Guard
- Prince Turki bin Abdullah, former governor of Riyadh
- Prince Turki bin Nasser, former head of meteorology, environment
- Waleed Ibrahim, owner of MBC media group
- Khaled al-Tuwaijri, former president of the Royal Court
- Adel Faqih, minister of economy and planning
- Omer Dabbagh, former president of the General Investment Authority
- Saleh Abdullah Kamel, chairman of Dallah al Baraka Group
- Saud al-Tobaishi, head of Royal ceremonies and protocols
- Ibrahim al-Assaf, state minister and executive of Saudi Aramco
- Bakr Binladin, owner of construction company Saudi Binladin Group
- Saud al-Dawish, former CEO of Saudi Telecom Company
- Khaled al-Mulhem, former director general of Saudi Arabian Airlines
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