Billionaire Saudi prince arrested for corruption

A member of the Saudi royal family, one of the world’s richest businessmen, has been arrested as part of an anti-corruption crackdown.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who has extensive holdings in Western companies and has been valued at $18bn by Forbes, was among 11 princes and dozens of serving and former officials taken into custody at the weekend. The arrests were part of an anti-corruption drive “which further cements control in the hands of its young Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman”, says The Independent.

Prince Alwaleed, a nephew of the king and owner of investment firm Kingdom Holding Company, has invested in firms such as Citigroup and Twitter.

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Also detained was Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, a top security official who has been replaced as minister of the powerful National Guard by Prince Khaled bin Ayyaf. The appointment consolidates Prince Mohammed’s control of security institutions which had previously been headed by separate branches of the ruling family.

State media agencies reported news of the purge after the country’s ruler King Salman decreed the creation of a new anti-corruption committee chaired by his 32-year-old son Prince Mohammed, first in line to the throne.

The new body was given broad powers to investigate cases, issue arrest warrants and travel restrictions, and seize assets.

According to Reuters, “the arrests were another pre-emptive measure by the crown prince to remove powerful figures as he exerts control over the world’s leading oil exporter”.

An economist at a big Gulf bank, speaking anonymously, said nobody in Saudi Arabia believed corruption was at the root of the purge, and it was actually about “consolidating power and frustration that reforms haven’t been happening fast enough”.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Saudi Arabia expert at Rice University, told Associated Press the arrests were designed to make the crown prince’s eventual succession to the throne even smoother.

The arrests follow June’s palace coup which saw bin Salman oust his elder cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, as heir to the throne and interior minister.