Saudi Arabia Says 200 Detained in Anti-Corruption Crackdown
The kingdom’s attorney general, Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb, said in a statement
that Saudi authorities believed that at least $100 billion "had been misused though systematic corruption and embezzlement over several decades." The statement provided new details about the crackdown, which has singled out some of the kingdom’s most prominent princes, investors and media moguls, but left many questions unanswered.
Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman, told reporters in Washington on Thursday
that Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson had spoken once with his Saudi counterpart, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, and had encouraged the Saudis to "pursue prosecution of corruption in a fair and transparent manner." As for the possible result of such prosecutions, she said, "the government of Saudi Arabia would have to address that."
Companies and banks are free to continue with transactions as usual." President Trump has strongly backed King Salman
and the crown prince over the crackdown, saying on Twitter that they "know exactly what they are doing."
I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing....
9, 2017
BEIRUT, Lebanon — More than 200 people have been summoned for questioning, and most are still detained, in a wide-ranging crackdown
that Saudi Arabia says is aimed at rooting out corruption and reclaiming embezzled funds, the government said Thursday.
The government has portrayed the arrests as a crackdown on corruption,
but critics see the detentions as an effort by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to neutralize any remaining power centers in the kingdom that could challenge his rule.
The statement did not name any of those arrested, who include 11 princes, like Alwaleed bin Talal, the kingdom’s most famous investor,
and Mutaib bin Abdullah, the former head of the National Guard and a son of the previous king.