Saudi Arabia Is Handing Out Cash Recovered From Detainees to Ease Austerity
Local Editor
Saudi Arabia is using cash recovered from officials and princes arrested in the latest purge to ease the pain of austerity.
The Saudi kingdom claims it has lost at least $100 billion to corruption, and some of that is now being handed back to the government as part of settlements agreed with suspects.
"We have received some money in the bank," Saudi finance minister Mohammed Al Jadaan told CNNMoney's Richard Quest on Thursday. "But most of the assets are unlikely to be in cash. As you can imagine it is in assets, real estate -- it is going to take some time to be liquidated."
Speaking earlier at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the minister claimed some of the cash recovered will be used to fund handouts for the 70% of Saudi nationals who are state employees.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
