Saudi royals get higher allowances after purge
Saudi Arabia increased its payments to some members of the royal family just as officials were wrapping up a controversial anti-corruption campaign that targeted some of the kingdom’s richest men and most prominent princes, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
The most recent monthly stipend – paid after the government had stopped covering electricity and water bills for royalty – was raised by as much as 50 per cent, two of the people said.
A Saudi government official said the report was ‘‘absolutely not true’’.
It is not clear whether the payment was a one-off bonus or will continue each month, or how widely the money was distributed.
One of the sources said it extended beyond the descendants of King Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia’s founder, to include more distant branches of the family. Another person said the payment was only given to adults who had reached a particular age.
The three spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The payments are the latest sign that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is trying to maintain public and royal support to avoid unrest as he seeks to overhaul a decades-old social contract built on generous handouts in return for political loyalty.
Over the past three months, authorities have locked up dozens of the kingdom’s richest men in what has been described as an anti-graft drive, imposed a sales tax, and announced sharp increases to fuel and utility prices to repair Saudi Arabia’s public finances.
Some of the moves appear to have backfired. After complaints about rising prices, King Salman ordered a handout worth more than 50 billion riyals (NZ$18 billion) to support many ordinary Saudis.
The attorney general said 11 princes were sent to jail after staging a protest against the decision to stop paying their utility bills, though another prince challenged that official account.
Dozens of princes and billionaires, including Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, were among those held at the Ritz Carlton hotel in the capital, Riyadh, during the anti-corruption purge.
The attorney general said this week all but 56 people had been released, either for lack of evidence or after they agreed to pay part of the allegedly ill-gotten money. The government had reaped more than 400 billion riyals (NZ$144.6b) in settlements, he said.
The crackdown has been popular among many young Saudis. Yet it has raised concerns among some foreign investors, with critics dismissing it as a power grab by the 32-year-old heir to the throne.
Saudi officials say the purge was necessary as part of the plan to attract investment and reduce the economy’s reliance on oil.
The increased payments are likely to raise questions over how serious the government is in curbing wasteful spending.
The payments, a subject of complaint among some Saudi citizens, are paid to members of the Al Saud ruling family, who number in the thousands. The government has never disclosed how many people receive them or how large they are.
A United States diplomatic cable in 1996 released by WikiLeaks said that members of the royal family received the monthly payments from birth, with the amounts depending on their proximity to King Abdulaziz.
At the time, the payments ranged from a low of US$800 a month to a high of US$270,000 a month, and the diplomat estimated the total annual cost to the state at about US$2b.