Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left, has said tackling corruption is necessary to overhaul Saudi Arabia’s oil-dependent economy. Photo: Saudi Press Agency/Reuters
Wall Street Journal: Saudi Crackdown Targets Up to $800 Billion in Assets
Authorities detain more prominent businessmen, freeze bank accounts
The Saudi government is aiming to confiscate cash and other assets worth as much as $800 billion in its broadening crackdown on alleged corruption among the kingdom’s elite, according to people familiar with the matter.
Several prominent businessmen are among those who have been arrested in the days since Saudi authorities launched the crackdown on Saturday, by detaining more than 60 princes, officials and other prominent Saudis, according to those people and others.
The country’s central bank, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, said late Tuesday that it has frozen the bank accounts of “persons of interest” and said the move is “in response to the Attorney General’s request pending the legal cases against them.”
The purge is the most extensive of the kingdom’s elite in recent history. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman, was named heir to the throne in June and has moved to consolidate power. He has said that tackling corruption at the highest level is necessary to overhaul what has long been an oil-dependent economy.
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WNU Editor: Much of the money is apparently overseas .... so retrieving it may be a problem. But even if a portion of it is found ....that would still be a big boost to the country's finances.
3 comments:
Yeah it should be enough to kickstart that $500bn city project
800 billion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whole smokes... God I hate the Saudi's, I really do.
"that would still be a big boost to the country's finances" which Mohamed bin Salman will blow on the wars in Yemen and Syria, which he has lost, and on the next one he is planning, in Alliance with Israel, against Iran. The Saudi royal family is a disaster for humanity and needs to be marginalized as quickly as possible.
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