King Salman tightens grip on power, faces internal corruption

CAIRO – 5 November 2017: A series of royal decrees were issued Saturday by Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, intensifying his control over the kingdom's security institutions.

King Salman waged a fierce war against corrupted royal family members that abuse their power.

A supreme anti-corruption committee, headed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, was formulated upon a decisive royal decree granting wide authority for the new body to detect violations, crimes, persons and entities involved in cases of public corruption.

The newly formed committee will have a wide-range of authorities, including the investigation, issuance of arrest warrants, travel ban, disclosure and freezing of accounts and portfolios, tracking of funds and assets, and preventing their remittance or transfer by persons or entities whoever they might be, according to the royal decree published on the official Saudi Press Agency. The committee is entitled to issue any precautionary measures until the corruption cases are referred to investigation entities or judicial authorities.

The historical royal decree also tasked the committee to do whatever it thinks is in favor of the public interest towards persons, entities, funds, and fixed and portable assets. The committee can form investigation teams and delegate part or all of its authorities to them. Finally, a detailed report on the committee’s decisions will be submitted to the Saudi monarch after the committee completes its work.

The new committee includes the heads of the Monitoring and Investigation Commission, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the General Audit Bureau, Attorney General and head of the State Security.

The new anti-corruption committee wasted no time and issued detention warrants for 11 princes, four ministers and a number of former ministers over accusations of corruption and wasting public funds.

In addition, the king ousted on Saturday one of the country's highest-level royals from power, relieving Prince Mautib bin Abdullah of his post as head of the National Guard. The monarch also replaced Minister of Economy and Planning Adel Fakeih with his deputy, Mohammad al-Tuwaijri. Abdullah al-Sultan, commander of the Saudi navy, was also replaced by Fahad al-Ghafli. No official explanation was given for the dismissals.

In April, the Saudi king dismissed a number of ministers and officials, including the minister of information and culture, the minister of civil service, the commander of the ground forces and the governor of the general investment authority.