RIYADH – Saudi authorities are still holding royal family members,ministers, and top businessmen in detention, and are making more arrestsmonths after the start of an anti-corruption crackdown, The Wall StreetJournal (WSJ) reported.
Many are also being held in maximum-security prisons and some were evensubjected to “rough treatment”, WSJ said.
Among those in detention is a senior royal family member, Prince Turki binAbdullah, who served as governor of Riyadh and is a son of the previousmonarch, King Abdullah.
Recently, three billionaires from the Mahfouz family, a prominent Saudibanking group, were detained for unidentified reasons, officials said.
While the spokesperson for the Saudi government did not respond to WSJ’srequests for comment, the kingdom’s deputy attorney general noted somedetainees were facing charges that go beyond corruption – such as nationalsecurity and “terrorism”.
Dozens of royal family members, ministers, and top businessmen werearrested in early November during an “anti-corruption purge” launched byCrown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Allegations against those detainedincluded money laundering, bribery, and extorting officials.
The crackdown, which came about via a royal decree in November 2017, was inresponse to “exploitation by some of the weak souls who have put their owninterests above the public interest, in order to illicitly accrue money”.
Most were freed after reaching settlement deals with the government,including Saudi businessman and billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.