US Prez Trump lauds Saudi Arabia’s effort to combat corruption; expresses confidence in leaders

Washington, November 7: The United States President Donald Trump on Monday expressed a great confidence in the leadership of Saudi Arabia amid an ongoing massive anti-corruption operation. Notably, Saudi Arabia anti-corruption committee has arrested 11 princes, 4 ministers and a number of former government ministers on Saturday as it is re-examining the corruption involved in 2009 Jeddah floods and investigating the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus cases.

 

US President Donald Trump in a series of a Twitter message sent from Tokyo said, “I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing”. “Some of those they are harshly treating have been “milking” their country for years!,” he added.

However, the supreme administration of the United States has so far remained quiet about the unexpected arrests of dozens of Saudi Arabia's most powerful princes, military leaders and ministers, which are widely being seen as a consolidation of power by the nation's 32-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

BACKGROUND:

Saudi Arabia’s newly made anti-corruption committee headed by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday evening as it is re-examining the corruption involved in 2009 Jeddah floods and investigating the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus, which emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns investment firm Kingdom Holding, top security official Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, chairman of the Saudi Binladin construction group Bakr bin Laden, the owner of the MBC television network Alwaleed al-Ibrahim, Khaled Tuweijri, AlWalid Ibrahim, Turki Bin Naser, Adel Fakih are amongst those arrested by Saudi Arabia authorities. The Saudi government has described the action as a sweeping effort to combat corruption.