Prince Mohammed consolidates power with Saudi mass arrests

DESERT KINGDOM PURGE Jailing of top royals and businessmen under sweeping anticorruption probe sees crown prince further cement authority

RIYADH:Saudi Arabia has arrested dozens of senior figures including princes, ministers and a top business tycoon, with authorities on Sunday pledging “fair” justice after a sweeping purge seen as consolidating the crown prince’s hold on power.

Billionaire Al-Waleed bin Talal was among the princes arrested late on Saturday, a source told AFP, immediately after a new anti-corruption commission headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was established by royal decree.

Separately, the head of the Saudi National Guard, once a leading contender to the throne, as well as the navy chief and the economy minister were replaced in a series of high-profile sackings that sent shock waves through the kingdom.

The dramatic shake-up comes at a time of unprecedented social and economic transformation in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia, as Prince Mohammed steps up his reform drive for a post-oil era.

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported that 11 princes, four current ministers and dozens of ex-ministers were arrested as the commission launched a probe into old cases such as floods that devastated the Red Sea city of Jeddah in 2009.

The kingdom’s top council of clerics also lauded the anti-corruption efforts as “important”, essentially giving religious backing to the crackdown.

The purge follows a wave of arrests of influential clerics and activists in September as the 32-year-old prince, known as MBS, cements his grip on power.

Analysts said many of those detained were resistant to Prince Mohammed’s foreign policy that includes the boycott of Qatar as well as some of his bold policy reforms, including privatising state assets and cutting subsidies.

Already viewed as the de facto ruler controlling all the major levers of government,the prince is widely seen to be stamping out traces of internal dissent before a formal transfer of power from his 81-year-old father King Salman.

At the same time, he has projected himself as a liberal reformer in the ultra-conservative kingdom with a series of bold moves including the decision allowing women to drive from next June.

Foreign diplomats predict that Prince Mohammed could well be in control of Saudi Arabia for at least half a century.