It added that criminal charges were leveled against 5,534 while disciplinary action was taken against the remaining 314.

The report said the employees were accused of taking bribes, committing forgery, circulating fake currency, abusing power and misappropriating public funds. It said the cases were detected during the last Hijrah year from 1/1/1431 to 1/1/1432.

The board said its branch offices in all parts of the country monitored the administrative and financial performance of government departments in their areas. “Our officials carried out a total of 7,998 field trips to implement a number of programs in ministries and other government agencies,” the report said.

The branch offices carried out 43,000 field trips during the year, half of them covering women’s sections.

“We have received a total of 2,549 cases of a criminal nature, including 657 bribery cases, 883 forgery cases, 471 cases related to fake currencies, 316 cases of mistreatment, 88 cases of misusing power, 85 cases related to exploitation of power and 49 cases of misusing public funds.”

The board’s officials also reviewed 282 complaints related to government departments and followed up 35 issues related to the Five-Year Development Plans.

The board said it has started issuing its annual reports regularly on the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. The king recently issued a decree to set up a National Commission to Combat Corruption.