Saudi UN envoy: anti-graft detainees to get due process

By Betul Yuruk

NEW YORK

Saudi Arabia's UN Ambassador said Monday that Saudi princes, high-ranking officials and billionaire businessmen who were detained earlier this month for corruption would be tried fairly.

Speaking at a press conference at UN headquarters in New York, Abdallah al-Mouallim assured that the detainees would be granted due process.

On Nov. 5, Saudi authorities detained 11 princes, four sitting ministers, a dozen former ministers, deputies and businessmen in a massive anti-corruption sweep.

Saudi media said billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and National Guard Minister Prince Miteb bin Abdullah were among those detained.

The arrests came hours after an anti-corruption committee under Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman was formed by royal decree.

According to the official SPA news agency, the committee has the authority to investigate, arrest, ban from travel, disclose and freeze accounts and portfolios and track funds and assets of individuals involved in corruption.

The committee has already announced that it will reopen the case of the 2009 Jeddah floods that killed more than 100 people and investigate the outbreak in 2012 of the , also known as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).