Saudi private jets suspended: Al-Zaidan

CAIRO – 5 November 2017: Private jets in Saudi Arabia’s airports have been halted temporarily, Saudi journalist Khaled Al-Zaidan posted on Twitter. An aviation source told AFP that suspending private jets in Jeddah city is to prevent high-level figures from leaving.

Dozens of Saudi princes and ministers, including four current ministers according to Al-Arabiya, were ousted by the newly formed anti-corruption committee headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Approving the mission of the committee, Saudi Council of Senior Scholars wrote on Twitter, “Combating corruption agrees with Sharia (Islamic law) and the national interest and is not less important than fighting terrorism.”

Chairman of Kingdom Holding Company and a member of the royal family Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, MBC chairman Waleed Al-Ibrahim, businessman Saleh Al-Kamel and Chief of the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia Khalid Al-Tuwaijri are among the accused, according to Saudi media channels.

Minister of the National Guard Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah and Minister of Economy Adel Faqih were dismissed and replaced by Prince Khaled bin Ayyaf and Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri, respectively.

In an interview with MBC last May, bin Salman promised to punish corrupt officials: “I assure you, no one who became involved in a corruption case whether he is a prince or a minister or whoever else, would escape punishment.”

“This is a memorable day in the history of Saudi Arabia that new generations will remember proudly,” said Ministry of Commerce and Investment spokesman Abdulrahman Al-Hussain.