Cabinet OKs Anti-Graft Strategy

Author: 
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
Publication Date: 
Tue, 2007-02-20 03:00

JEDDAH, 20 February 2007 — Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers yesterday approved a National Strategy to Protect Honesty and Combat Corruption.

It also decided to facilitate administrative procedures and question dishonest officials, irrespective of their positions, as part of a major move to root out all forms of corruption from the country.

The weekly Cabinet meeting, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, decided to establish a national authority to combat corruption in order to follow up implementation of the strategy, by setting out necessary programs and mechanisms, the Saudi Press Agency said, quoting a Cabinet statement.

The Kingdom also called upon the international community, especially influential countries such as the United States, to support the Palestinian unity government as well as to force Israel to abide by the international legitimacy resolutions and respond positively to the Arab peace initiative.

The meeting urged all government departments to protect honesty and combat corruption by carrying out their duties in accordance with the law, reducing and facilitating administrative procedures and implementing the principle of holding any official, irrespective of his position, accountable for dishonest practices.

Ever since he came to the throne in August 2005, King Abdullah has declared a war on corruption and bureaucratic practices. While opening the Shoura Council’s annual session last year, he reiterated the government’s resolve to fight corruption and red tape and improve the efficiency of its employees.

King Abdullah last year rewarded dietitian Abeer Ghazi Al-Masoudi for her revelations about the dishonest practices of her former employer, a catering contractor for state hospitals. She received a cash award as well as a job with a monthly salary of SR5,000 at the Health Ministry. The contractor had prepared false records exaggerating the number of meals delivered to area hospitals.

The Cabinet meeting in Riyadh, according to Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani, took a number of other important decisions. It set up two agencies under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for international trade and technical affairs, including meeting the requirements of the World Trade Organization.

The Cabinet said the two agencies would be provided with necessary financial and manpower resources to enable them to carry out their missions. Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative office at the WTO will be independent of the Kingdom’s office at the UN headquarters in Geneva and will report to the foreign trade department in the Kingdom.

Referring to the Saudization of the gold market, the meeting decided to reduce the Saudization rate to 10 percent at gold factories and jewelry workshops. However, the institutions should increase the number of their Saudi employees gradually by providing them with training and attractive financial benefits.

Gold factories are not allowed to employ non-Saudi goldsmiths directly as the foreign workers should undergo tests to be conducted by the Commerce and Industry Ministry’s quality control agency to ensure they are qualified to do the job. Non-Saudis are not allowed to sell precious stones and metals outside licensed shops or workshops, Madani said.

The Cabinet also approved the formation of a national committee to combat smoking in order to protect society, especially children, from the harmful effects of smoking. The committee will set out policies to assist smokers and protect nonsmokers and propose regulations to combat smoking.

The meeting approved the establishment of Al-Shaqeeq Water and Electricity Company. It appointed Abdullah ibn Sulaiman Al-Rubaiaan as chairman of the Agricultural Bank for a three-year term.

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