The Saudi government has established a national commission to battle corruption with wide-ranging powers to hunt down offenders, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Saturday. The cabinet of ministers approved the Organisation of Anti-Corruption National Commission to deal with all forms of "financial and administrative corruption," the SPA said.
"The Commission aims to protect integrity, promote the principle of transparency, fight against financial and administrative corruption in all its forms and manifestations," the agency said. The latest anti-corruption move follows unrest in the oil-rich kingdom and allegations of corruption. Saudi King Abdullah had announced unprecedented economic benefits worth nearly $100 billion in March and warned against any attempt to undermine his kingdom, as upheaval swept the Arab world.
The monarch appeared to be responding to the whirlwind of regional unrest that has ousted autocratic regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, and thrown Bahrain, Yemen and Libya into turmoil. More than 100 Shia protesters had been jailed for several weeks after they were arrested at the start of the anti-government demonstrations in early March.
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