RIYADH: The anti-corruption watchdog has arrested two diplomats, two policemen and nine foreign nationals in different incidents of participating in visa trading and taking bribes in the country and abroad. While the diplomatic officers were arrested for earning huge amounts of money by issuing work visas, the policemen were arrested for persuading a foreign citizen to sign a large amount of liability paper. All of them were arrested through a joint operation by the anti-corruption supervisory authority ‘NASAHA’ and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The visa trading and corruption that took place at the Saudi Embassy in Bangladesh was caught. The diplomatic officers who were arrested are the head of the consular section of the embassy, Khalid Nasser Ayd Al Qahtani, and former deputy ambassador Abdullah Falah Madhi AlShamri. A criminal case has been registered once morest them for earning huge amount of money by issuing work visas. The investigation team found that apart from receiving money in Saudi, they also invested abroad.
Mohammad Nasruddin Noor, owner of the recruitment office and a resident of Saudi Arabia, another office owner Saeed Uzaid Moofi, Abul Kalam Muhammad, Rafiq Al Islam, Aziz Alhaq Muslimuddin, Ashrafuddin Aknad, Alameen Khan and Shahid Allakhan, who are in Saudi Arabia on a visit visa, have also been arrested. They admitted to the investigating officers that they had been involved in illegal visa trade with the officials of the Saudi Embassy in Dhaka and thus earned a lot of money. ‘Nasaha’ officials revealed that more than 2 crore 18 lakh riyals, gold bars and luxury vehicles were seized from them.
Hatim Mastoor Saad bin Tayyib, an officer of the Miyatab Saad Al-Ghanoom Special Missions Force of the Riyadh Regional Police, was arrested for forcing a foreigner to sign a bond of 2.3 crore Riyals on behalf of the Palestinian investor Saleh Muhammad. It was found that they took a bribe of 60,000 riyals for this. The Palestinian investor is also in custody. Officials informed that the arrested persons have been handed over to the concerned departments for further action.
