Cairo: Saudi Arabia has convicted a number of top security officers and a prince in several corruption cases related to forgery, bribery, waste of public money and influence peddling, according to a state anti-graft watchdog, the latest in a clampdown on corruption in the country.
Rulings were recently passed by the circuits of financial and administrative corruption at a court in Riyadh after the defendants were convicted in the different cases, an official source at the Saudi Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority said.
A prominent case involved a prince, who was an employee at the Ministry of Municipal and Village Affairs, a cadet at a military college affiliated to the Defence Ministry, and an Arab expatriate. The royal and the cadet were found guilty of using forged education qualifications to get government jobs while the expatriate acted as a mediator in helping them obtain the certificates, the source said.
Cairo: Saudi authorities have said that shisha and tobacco services will resume at cafes starting Monday, with immunised customers only to be allowed into these places.
The Ministry of Municipal and Village Affairs has issued precautionary rules to serve the shisha and tobacco, limiting the services to immunised customers, including those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with one or two doses, or the recovered people, according to their status shown via the health app Tawakkalna.
The rules also make it obligatory for all workers at cafes to have received the jabs or having recovered from the disease. Non-immunised workers must show a negative PCR test result every seven days with the testing conducted at the expense of the establishment.
Cairo: Saudi authorities have started enforcing a decree requiring workers in certain commercial activities to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing for detecting the virus, local media reported.
The move adopted by the Ministry of Municipal and Village Affairs applies to workers at restaurants, coffee shops, all types of food stores, barber shops and women’s beauty centres. The decree took effect as of Thursday, the first day of the Islamic month of Shawwal.
Negative result
The ministry said that workers in these businesses must get vaccinated against the highly contagious disease, or show a weekly negative result through PCR tests conducted at the expense of the employer.
Cairo: Eighteen people suffered food poisoning after they were served at a famous restaurant in the Saudi holy city of Mecca, prompting authorities to close it down, local media reported.
Municipal authorities in Mecca shut down the restaurant in line with a related decision from the Ministry of Municipal and Village Affairs that cited a health report blaming the eatery for the incident.
The restaurant has been closed down for one month with a name-to-shame notice posted on its front, saying the shutdown was due to food poisoning.
In recent months, Saudi Arabia has stepped up inspection tours of commercial establishments nationwide to ensure compliance with health rules, including precautions against COVID-19.
Cairo: Saudi authorities have required certain businesses to vaccinate their employees against COVID-19 as a mass inoculation campaign against the highly infectious disease has picked pace in the kingdom.
The Ministry of Municipal and Village Affairs has made it mandatory for a number of establishments to get all their workers vaccinated or undergo a weekly test for detecting the coronavirus, Saudi media reported.
The obligation will go into effect as of the 1st of the Islamic month of Shawwal, expected to begin on May 12. It applies to restaurants, coffee shops, all types of food stores, barber shops and women’s beauty centres, the media added.