Saudi Arabia arrests 116 government employees in December raids

Saudi Arabia’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) arrested 116 government employees during December in connection with corruption cases, according to a report in the Saudi Gazette. Some of those arrested were later released on bail.

The arrests followed inspection campaigns carried out by officials from the Nazaha. According to the authority, a total of 1,440 inspection raids were conducted during the month.

As a result of these raids, charges of bribery and abuse of power were investigated against 466 suspects. Those under investigation include employees from the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health.

Nazaha said it is working to complete the necessary legal procedures in order to refer those involved in the cases to the judiciary. No further details were provided regarding the identities of the suspects or the status of individual cases.

The authority called on the public to report any suspected cases of financial or administrative corruption through its official channels. These include the toll-free number 980 and the authority’s website.

In a post on its official social media account, Nazaha said it had initiated a number of criminal and administrative cases during December 2025. The post did not provide additional information about the cases or their outcomes.

The authority said the arrests were made during the last month of December as part of the inspection activities carried out by the authority. No further figures were released regarding how many suspects remain in custody or how many cases have already been referred to the courts.