RIYADH, 27 September 2003 — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, has rewarded two employees in the health affairs section of the National Guard after they refused a bribe of SR300,000. They cooperated with police to bring the men who tried to bribe them to justice, the Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper reported.

The paper said a foreigner representing a construction company offered a bribe to Majid Al-Saeed of the National Guard in return for revealing information about rival bids for a contract then being tendered. The man offered Al-Saeed 10 percent of the value of the contract, or SR300,000, if the contract was awarded to his company.

Al-Saeed informed his supervisor, Muhammad Al-Ahaideb, who asked him to act interested and called the secret police and the supervision committee to coordinate an effort to bring the criminals to justice. Investigation revealed that the manager of the company had approved the bribe and had previously bribed officials elsewhere.

The manager and his intermediary have been arrested.