Saudi King terminates country’s Public Security director on corruption charges

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has terminated the kingdom’s director of Public Security on corruption charges, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

First lieutenant general Khaled bin Qarar bin Ghanem Al-Harbi was charged with numerous violations and ‘abused’ his role to seize public money for his personal use, the report said.

He is also accused of committing a number of crimes, including forgery, bribery and abuse of influence, with the participation of 18 people from the public and private sectors.

Al-Harbi has now been referred for investigation to the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha).

Nazaha will complete the investigation procedures and take the necessary legal measures against all those involved, the report added.

Saudi has been aggressively cracking down on corruption in the country.

Last month, the kingdom said 207 employees across about a dozen government ministries had been arrested by Nazaha on allegations of corruption, abuse of authority and fraud.

The authority said more than 460 people were investigated in total.

The accused include members from the national guard and ministries, including defense, interior, health and justice, among others.

In April, Nazaha had announced that 176 people from across the public sector had been detained on corruption charges.