Riyadh, April 19, SPA -- An official source in the Control and Anti-Corruption Authority stated that the authority has initiated a financial and administrative corruption case involving two senior officials at the health affairs in the Riyadh region in conjunction with six people, one of whom is an owner of a hotel, exploiting the state's generous spending to contain the current crisis related to the novel Corona Virus (Covid-19), providing adequate accommodation for citizens returning from abroad to spend the quarantine period at, by requiring commissions on hotels to obtain the opportunity to contract with the Ministry of Health, which resulted in the state being over charged with expenses that exceed the fair price for the service. In the same context, one of the senior officials of the Ministry of Tourism violated his job duties by submitting an exaggerated price offer to the Ministry of Health for the purpose of providing accommodation services to citizens returning from outside the country to spend the quarantine period. The investigation ended with his admission of his violation and wasting public money, and work is underway to complete the necessary procedures of those involved to refer them to the court. The authority also exercised its jurisdiction, in coordination with the police department of Riyadh region, regarding the case the expatriates who counterfeited 31 roaming permits during the curfew period and started to sell them with a total value of 93,000 Riyals. The details of this case were facilitated by one of the military personnel working in the Ministry of Interior in an attempt to exploit the permit granted to him by the nature of his job to obtain a financial benefits and in cooperation with a relative of his working at the Ministry of Health so that the latter coordinated with one of the residents to counterfeit the permits papers to elude that that they were issued by the Ministry of Defense for the purpose of selling them for an amount of three thousand riyals per permit. Those involved were arrested by the Riyadh region police department and were referred to the Authority for further investigation of all parties involved. The Authority also calls upon everyone to take the initiative and report through its vailable channels about any financial or administrative corruption practices to prevent undermining the existing efforts in containing the Novel Corona Virus pandemic or wasting public money in any way; and notes that the crimes of financial and administrative corruption has no statute of limitations, and that Article Sixteen from the anti-bribery law, exempted both the perpetrator and the mediator from the original and subordinate punishment when initiating the reporting of the crime before it was discovered. Nazaha urges citizens, residents and those involved to quickly provide any information they have through the available reporting channels. The Authority thanks HRH the Minister of interior for the exerted efforts by Riyadh's Region Police Department, the Minister of Tourism and the the Minister of Health for their cooperation. It also reiterates that the abuse committed by any employee is an individual behavior that does not represent the entity in any way, and it will continue to exercise its jurisdiction according to the rule of law, and the application of regulations against everyone who wastes public funds or violates the duties of their job stipulated by law. The Authority also extends its thanks to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and HRH the Crown Prince, may Allah protect them, for the unlimited support for Nazaha to exercise its jurisdiction to protect public funds and hold those negligent accountable. --SPA 19:30 LOCAL TIME 16:30 GMT 0023 www.spa.gov.sa/w1310059