RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s anti-corruption authority has busted a criminal network involved in forging records of coronavirus status of citizens and residents alike for money. In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency late Thursday, an official source at the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) said the authority tracked it down after monitoring advertisements on social networking sites. According to Nazaha, it has initiated legal procedures against 12 people — 8 citizens and 4 residents — for their involvement in the crimes. After a thorough investigation and statements taken from the accused, the authority found out the involvement of two health sector employees in the network among others. The remaining 10 accused were either mediators or beneficiaries of fraudulent activities. The authority added in the statement that since actions of the accused will have severe negative effects on the efforts made by state agencies to combat the pandemic, it is firmly proceeding against the accused with the application of all required legal measures. Nazaha also provided the background of the accused and the nature of their involvement in the network in a bid to name and shame them. 1. Akram Al-Qahtani (citizen), an employee of a vaccine Center in the Health Affairs in the Eastern Province, received money from citizens and residents in exchange for adjusting their health status through intermediaries. 2. Naif Al-Shehri, (citizen), a health affairs employee in the Eastern Province, took money from citizens and residents in exchange for adjusting their health status through intermediaries. 3. Muhammad Al-Ribhi (citizen), who played the role of a mediator and was involved in advertising on social media, obtained money from citizens and residents who sought to modify their health status. 4. Aoun Al-Qahtani (citizen), who played the role of a mediator and was involved in advertising on social media, got money from citizens and residents wishing to amend their health status. 5. Bandar Al-Shehri (citizen) enabled one of the accused to use his bank accounts to receive money from citizens and residents wishing to amend their health status. 6. Ahmed Mahmoud, (Syrian), who played the role of a mediator and was involved in advertising on social media, receiving money from citizens and residents wishing to amend their health status. 7. Yassin Al-Jundi, (Yemeni), who played the role of a mediator and was involved in advertising on social media, took money from citizens and residents wishing to amend their health status. 8. Mutmin Shuja, (Yemeni), who played the role of a mediator and was involved in advertising on social media, received money from citizens and residents wishing to amend their health status. 9. Riyad Ali Ghaleb Saif (Yemeni) enabled one of the accused to use his bank accounts to receive money from citizens and residents wishing to amend their health status. 10. Naif Al-Qahtani (citizen), a beneficiary and mediator, used his bank accounts to receive money from citizens and residents wishing to amend their health status, and pay a sum of money to one of the accused to modify his health condition. 11. Yahya Hakami (citizen), who paid a sum of money to one of the accused, for changing his health condition. 12. Yahya Annab (citizen), who paid a sum of money to one of the accused, in exchange for modifying his health status. The authority also said that it will continue to act against all those who exploit their official positions to achieve personal gain.