The National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha) received 6,300 calls from members of the public to report corruption last year, with 2,500 falling within its mandate, the anti-graft body said in a report recently under discussion at the Shoura Council.

Members of the country's legislative body have proposed that the Nazaha set up a national database that would categorize and analyze information gleaned from corruption cases, according to a report in a local newspaper.

Most of the discussion on the report took place behind closed doors at the Shoura Council.

The council also called on the Nazaha leadership to take steps that would ensure employees carry out their jobs properly. This includes having regular performance evaluations.

The Shoura members urged the Nazaha to join other international anti-corruption bodies to ensure training for employees. Several council members called on the commission to provide details on how it follows up on cases.

Members of the council agreed to give the commission more time to study comments and suggestions and return for further discussions.

Meanwhile, the council discussed the report of its financial committee on the annual report of the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF), in particular payment methods.

A member of the council suggested that the REDF's management facilitate payments for people who borrow, including providing information on where they can do so for each phase of their construction, or reschedule four payments into two.

Sultan Al-Sultan, a council member, accused the REDF of failing to provide it with a national housing strategy. He claimed the Ministry of Housing has not worked out its priorities properly, including ensuring there is coordination between it and the REDF.

Al-Sultan said the REDF dispensed SR20 billion in loans, according to its report, with SR4.4 billion that should be paid. So far beneficiaries have paid SR2.1 billion, while exemption from payment cost the state SR1 billion.

He said 492,000 citizens who registered manually need SR246 billion in loans. There were 2.1 million people who applied electronically, who need SR1 trillion in property loans. He urged the REDF to reduce its payment exemptions from 20 percent to 5 percent.