The American website “The Hill” published a report on the reality of authoritarian regimes in which corruption is rampant, citing Saudi Arabia and China.
The site said that Saudi Arabia did not rank high in the annual classification of business, and indicated that the Kingdom’s DBI rating had brought the Kingdom to a state of embarrassment in light of its quest to diversify its economy away from oil.
In a related context, the “Government Defense Integrity” organization highlighted the spread of corruption in Saudi institutions and the growth of this phenomenon during the period of bin Salman, where the organization indicated that Saudi Arabia suffers from serious indicators of corruption in its defense institutions, such as the lack of transparency and control in operations, financial affairs and purchasing deals. The organization confirmed that, with what the Saudi government revealed the corruption of many officials in the security and military services inside the Kingdom in previous periods.
These facts were deliberately revealed as the Saudi Crown Prince was trying to cover up those facts after they became famous, Bin Salman felt that the crisis would worsen against him, and he might not be able to control it, which means the spread of corruption in all Saudi institutions, especially the Saudi defense establishment and the security establishment, which costs the state huge financial losses, represented in bribery, abuse of influence, embezzlement, and brokering major deals in Weapons, import, customs, etc.
It is worth noting that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced successive campaigns of arrests against Saudi security men, on charges of corruption, without publishing real details about them, which raised doubts about the campaign, as some considered it a campaign to secure the position of Bin Salman, and others considered it a settling of accounts.
Organizations indicated that this campaign showed the extent of corruption in the Kingdom’s sectors and institutions, under the patronage of Crown Prince bin Salman, who resorts to attacking some of the members of that system when he feels threatened by them, which has nothing to do with fighting corruption.
In response to the successive arrest campaigns on charges of corruption, human rights activists questioned its credibility, considering that the Saudi Crown Prince is the sponsor of corruption, citing the house he bought in America, the $500 million art painting, the tourist yacht, and the inauguration ceremonies he hosted with great artists and prostitutes, and the precious gifts to great artists, wrestlers, actresses and others revealed by news agencies every day at a time when foreign reserves have reached their lowest levels, public debt has risen to its highest levels, and as well as taxes on the people.
