The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is moving quickly to broaden its crackdown on alleged corruption among the country’s elite, with authorities detaining more Princes, Ministers, prominent businessmen and freezing dozens of bank accounts, according to people familiar with the matter, with the government promising more arrests will follow.
The sweep began over the weekend and was portrayed by Saudi officials as a crackdown on corruption, part of a plan by 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to attract more foreign investment and reduce the country’s historic dependence on oil.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
Prince Alwaleed has amassed major holdings in major Western brands such as Citigroup, Twitter and Apple. He has also invested in real estate, hospitality and entertainment sectors. He is also known for his charitable works.
Prince Miteb bin Abdullah
Prince Miteb was once seen as a possible contender for the throne as he was a favored son of the late King Abdullah. He was arrested and replaced as head of the elite national guard, the only branch of the kingdom’s security services not already under the crown prince’s control.
Prince Turki bin Abdullah
Prince Turki played a key role in the launch of a multibillion-dollar rapid transit project for Riyadh when he was the Deputy Governor and Governor of Riyadh province between 2013 and 2015, the Saudi capital that is slated for completion in 2019. He is now reportedly accused of taking advantage of his influence to award contracts to his own companies.
Prince Turki bin Nasser
Prince Turki reportedly owns nearly 200 classic cars, a business jet and opulent houses in Beverly Hills; Barcelona, Spain and London despite being the presidency of Meteorology and Environment which appear to be a poor position.
Prince Fahd bin Abdullah bin Mohammed
Prince Fahd was Deputy defense minister in 2013 after serving in navy. He was replaced just four months later; no reason was given for the switch.
Adel Fakeih
Fakeih was Minister of Economy and Planning. Fakeih has also served as the mayor of Jeddah, Minister of Labour and Minister of Health.
Khaled Tuwaijri
Tuwaijri was the chief of the Saudi royal court for nine years, he served as gatekeeper to King Abdullah.
Ibrahim Assaf
Assaf was Saudi’s Finance Minister for 20 years. He played crucial role in solving top financial and business concerns of Saudi Arabia.
Bakr bin Laden
Bakr bin Laden is the chairman of the Jeddah-based Saudi Binladin Group and the largest shareholder in the Group, with a 23.58% holding.
Mohammad al-Tobaishi
Tobaishi was in the news for wrong reasons. He was reportedly slapped a journalist and was removed from post of head of protocol at the Royal Court. This wasn’t the first time that Tobaishi has lost his job, In 2013, while serving King Abdullah, he was dismissed from his position, only to regain it a few months later.
Amr al-Dabbagh
Amr Al-Dabbagh former governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), a businessman, philanthropist, and also an author. He is the chairman and CEO of the Jeddah-based Al-Dabbagh Group. Al-Dabbagh is the founder of the Stars Foundation, a non-profit devoted to helping disadvantaged children, and Philanthropy University, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for non-profit managers and philanthropists, providing free non-credit courses powered by the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Waleed bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim
Waleed Al Ibrahim is a Saudi Arabian businessman and chairman of Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC). He is the first commercially successful TV channel owner in the Middle East. He was reported to be arrested by the Saudi authorities on 4 November, as part of the 2017 Saudi Arabian anti-corruption arrests.[3][4] He had earlier refused to sell his MBC TV stations to Mohammad bin Salman.
Khalid al-Mulheim
Mulheim was director-general at Saudi Arabian Airlines also known as Saudia is the national carrier airline of Saudi Arabia, based in Jeddah.
Saoud al-Daweesh
Former Chief Executive of Saudi Telecom. STC has lost its monopoly on mobile phone services after the assignment of a second license to Etihad Etisalat. In April 2007 its monopoly on fixed telephone services ended after the victory of a coalition led by the Bahraini Batelco second license put forward by the government, and also the company’s prepaid card and called Sawa, it is a popular deployment in Saudi Arabia.
Saleh Abdullah Kamel
A Saudi billionaire. He has a net worth estimated at US$2.1 billion. He is the chairman and founder of the Dallah al Baraka Group, one of the Middle East’s largest conglomerates
Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi
Al-Amoudi is an Ethiopian and Saudi Arabian billionaire businessman. In 2016, his net worth was estimated by Forbes at approximately $10.9 billion. He was also listed as Ethiopia’s richest man, the second richest Saudi Arabian citizen in the world. Al Amoudi made his fortune in construction and real estate before branching out to buy oil refineries in Sweden and Morocco. He is the largest individual foreign investor in Ethiopia and a major investor in Sweden.