{"id":29746,"date":"2017-11-08T15:58:52","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T10:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=29746"},"modified":"2017-11-08T15:58:52","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T10:58:52","slug":"anti-corruption-purge-not-to-affect-businesses-saudi-arabia-reassures-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=29746","title":{"rendered":"Anti-corruption purge not to affect businesses, Saudi Arabia reassures investors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>RIYADH Nov 08 (TNS):<\/strong> Saudi Arabia has reassured investors that a sweeping anti-corruption purge would not affect businesses, including those with ties to arrested suspects, as authorities appeared to widen the crackdown.<\/p>\n<p>Dozens of high-profile figures including princes, ministers as well as billionaire tycoon Al-Waleed bin Talal were arrested at the weekend, in the biggest purge of the kingdom\u2019s elite in modern Saudi history.<\/p>\n<p>The crackdown has triggered uncertainty among businesses that could intensify capital flight or derail reforms, experts say, at a time when the kingdom is seeking to attract badly needed investments amid a protracted oil slump.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities have frozen the bank accounts of the accused and warned that any assets related to the corruption cases would be seized as state property.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is worth clarifying that concerned individual accounts rather than their corporate businesses have been put in suspension until final court rulings,\u201d central bank chief Ahmed Abdulkarim AlKholifey said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn other words, corporate businesses remain unaffected. It is business as usual for both banks and corporates,\u201d he said, adding that there were no restrictions on money transfers through legal banking channels.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, Saudi commerce minister Majid al-Qasabi said that companies, including those owned by the arrested elites, will be accorded \u201cfull protection\u201d under the law.<\/p>\n<p>Among those being held are billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, Waleed al-Ibrahim, owner of the influential Arab satellite network MBC, as well as construction tycoon Bakr Bin Laden and billionaire Saleh Kamal.<\/p>\n<p>Local media has reported new arrests of well-known businessmen since the weekend crackdown, including Naser bin Aqeel al-Tayyar, the founder of one of Saudi Arabia\u2019s biggest travel companies<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to Saudi stock exchange, his company said it was aware of reports of Tayyar\u2019s arrest, adding it confirms the \u201ccontinuation of business to serve the interests of shareholders and customers\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>With the purge, which analysts describe as a bold but risky power play, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appears to have centralised power to a degree that is unprecedented in recent Saudi history.<\/p>\n<p>US President Donald Trump has voiced support for the crackdown, saying some of those arrested had been \u201cmilking their country for years\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RIYADH Nov 08 (TNS): Saudi Arabia has reassured investors that a sweeping anti-corruption purge would not affect businesses, including those with ties to arrested suspects, as authorities appeared to widen the crackdown. Dozens of high-profile figures including princes, ministers as well as billionaire tycoon Al-Waleed bin Talal were arrested at the weekend, in the biggest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[816,733],"class_list":["post-29746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-riyadh","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29748,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29746\/revisions\/29748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}