Saudi to enforce ‘where from’ anti-corruption law

Saudi Arabia is planning to give its anti-corruption body a free hand in questioning officials and the public on the source of their funds within its latest tough regulation entitled “where from,” a newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Gulf kingdom’s anti-corruption commission, Nazaha (sincerity), will soon be able to interrogate officials, public servants, businessmen and other citizens on the source of their funds once the new law is issued, Sharq said, quoting a Nazaha source.

“The ‘where from’ rule will be enforced soon after it was ratified by the Monarch…it will enable Nazaha to hunt for all those with suspicious sources of wealth,” the source said.

The paper said the new law would affect officials, businessmen, public servants and those who join government jobs or retire.

It quoted  Dr Mufleh Al Qahtani, a Saudi law professor, as saying: “Nazaha should exploit the new law to track the sources of wealth of any person before taking up a government job and after leaving it.”

In a recent report, Saudi Arabia’s state auditing watchdog said government offices are suffering from low performance because of bribe and other corruption practices and this is putting pressure on the Gulf country’s coffers.

The flood disaster that hit the Western Red Sea port of Jeddah three years ago exposed such flaws in government departments, which are also suffering from the absence of clear policies, the General Auditing Bureau (GAB) said.

In a paper presented at a government performance seminar held in Riyadh this week,

GAB said the public sector’s efficiency has remained below the required level despite the massive budgets allocated for them every year.

“Saudi Arabia is facing a series of problems including the modest performance of some government departments in the absence of incentives, efficiency and an environment that could support innovation,” it said.

“What happened in Jeddah underscored the poor performance of government offices due to bribery and widespread corruption….these institutions are also suffering from the lack of clear policies and action plans besides bureaucratic complications in decision-making…this is putting pressure on the budget and increasing economic costs.”

Although it was a taboo word only recently, corruption is now debated in public in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil producers as part of ongoing economic reforms and social openness. Most regional nations have started to debate such issues in parliament and there have been several cases of interrogation of senior officials.

In 2010, newspapers reported that GAB complained to King Abdullah that government offices are involved in illegal spending of public money while some are holding up projects and others do not comply with budgetary allocations.
 

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