The committee will include three former workers who had resigned from Najran’s municipal council last month. They will help the committee locate areas of corruption, Al-Shams daily reported on Friday.

The committee is scheduled to start work next week and report to the minister. Many changes in key administrative and financial posts in the municipality are expected after the investigations, a municipal source said.

The investigation committee was set up following mass resignations from the council in protest against alleged marginalization by the municipality. Council members had complained that their decisions were totally ignored.

The resignation of the council chairman and other members, a first in the Kingdom, had caused uproar in online circles in the province.

“We are now infected with an administrative corruption ‘flu.’ The virus should be treated with an effective vaccine. But we do not have any medicine for its treatment,” said the former chairman, Zaid bin Showail.

“We requested various committees of the ministry to visit the area in order to see the needs of the districts are, such as western Faisaliyah, Abu Al-Saud and Shaab Rayar, which all lack public utilities. The committees came and collected evidence. But nothing happened after that.”

He said the municipality did not implement any of the council’s decisions and recommendations.

Mayor of Najran Saad Al-Shahri hit back at Showail’s allegations.

“We all serve the nation. There are certain rules and regulations to follow when we implement any new work. Both the council and the municipality submit their recommendations to the ministry, which then makes its decision,” he said.