Recently Saudi Arabia saw a series of arrests related to anti-corruption investigations in that country. Among the first detainees are 11 princes, 4 former and sitting ministers, and dozens of other government officials, reports Radio Liberty. However, later another 200 persons were detained. Over 1,500 bank accounts have been frozen. The country’s attorney general claimed that damages caused by corruption schemes over several decades, exceed 100 billion US dollars. The investigation is carried out by an anti-corruption committee led by the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The first detentions were carried out in the first few hours after this committee was created. Al Arabiya reports that the anti-corruption committee has the right to investigate, arrest, impose a travel ban, and freeze the assets of individuals suspected of corruption.
“THE PRINCE’S IMAGE AS FUTURE KING IS AT STAKE”
Our interview with Viacheslav SHVED, head of department of history of Asian and African countries at the Institute of World History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, opened with the question what actually this sudden anti-corruption crackdown in Saudi Arabia meant.
“This campaign, initiated by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, successor to the throne, highlights several questions.
“Firstly, bin Salman is known as chief architect and organizer of wide-scale reform plan, Saudi Vision 2030, launched now in Saudi Arabia. According to the official statements, this reform means to radically change the appearance of the ancient Arabic country in economic, social, and spiritual spheres. I would like to emphasize that the prince in fact aims at revamping Saudi Arabia and making it into a modern nation. These grand challenges clash with traditional corruption, which permeates life in Saudi Arabia.
“According to the laws, investors who wanted to work in Saudi Arabia were obliged to register their businesses or investment projects with a Saudi subject, whose presence was required on board of such a company. Without that, no international firm was allowed on Saudi ground. The first who profited from it were the members of the sprawling royal family, the so-called House of Saud. Just imagine that, according to some sources, it comprises some two thousand princes. This crowd (there is hardly a better word to describe it) demands its share of the national pie. A lot of them suggested their own corruption schemes, i.e. they gladly helped foreign companies set foot on the Saudi Arabian ground for a reward.
“Some billionaires were losing the sense of measure and the touch with reality. For instance, Prince Alwaleed, one of the world’s richest men. When going for a short foreign trip, he took such a lot of shoes in his luggage, that it needed a separate room in a luxury suite. At the same time, he had been positioning himself as a reformer.
“So at some point Mohammed bin Salman decided, that such an open embezzlement of national wealth and national revenues is no longer compatible with the policies he had been implementing.
“Secondly, there is of course a serious political component in all of this. The prince actually holds the entire state apparatus in his hands, the entire machine governing Saudi Arabia. I do not know what the future has in stock for the incumbent king, life is always full of surprises, but I see indications that bin Salman is going to be king soon. He is getting ready for it and in fact is preparing the ground. This sprawling family has a lot of all manner of underwater rocks, conflicting groups, and we might have no idea how delicate the balance between them is and what sort of struggle they are engaged in in order to survive. The team led by Mohammed bin Salman is trying to gain firm and definite foothold in Saudi Arabia’s political, legal, and governmental space. He considers this campaign one of efficient tools to consolidate his role in future.
“Mohammed bin Salman’s relations with the former heir to the throne Prince Nayef (displaced by the king early last summer) have been quite complicated. He is related to very many oligarchic members of the House of Saud. This campaign allows bin Salman to purge the Saudi political space from those rather powerful individuals who could threaten his ascent to the throne. For example, the displaced commandant of the National Guards or several other heavyweights, associated with those figures in Saudi society and the House of Saud in particular who might pose competition for Mohammed bin Salman.
“There are two related causes that defined the drastic measures. We should not forget that the crown prince is only 32 years old. This is a young and very impulsive political figure. He is a typical ‘eastern’ person. I would like to cite the Yemeni military campaign in this connection, where fighting the Houthis is very challenging, in fact, it is the front line of a military conflict with Iran. Or the Qatar crisis, which to a great extent was provoked by impetuous actions of two princes, Mohammed bin Salman and the Abu Dhabi’s crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed, who is acting as an informal leader of the UAE. The tandem of these two crown princes largely defines political weather in the Arabian Peninsula. All of this caused the decisive and harsh campaign orchestrated by the crown prince.
“The pro-governmental journalists in Saudi Arabia emphasize that such a relentless campaign should increase the country’s investment attractiveness. A lot will depend on how qualified and legally impeccable this policy will be.
“I think the crown prince and his team realize that all this campaign is very risky, a lot is at stake including the prince’s image as future king. They will try to act prudently and not cross a red line which might scare off investors or damage the country’s reformist image, the result of the crown prince’s effort.”
“SALMAN IS BUILDING AN IDEOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION FOR THE REFORM”
The New York Times writes that the crown prince’s rapid ascent has divided the Saudis. Some approve of his vision, style of handling economic problems, and policies aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on oil. Others, on the contrary, consider him reckless, inexperienced, and criticize him for concentrating too much power in the hands of one family. How is the prince seen from within the country?
“I follow very closely American analysts, for instance, the articles by Marc Lynch or Simon Henderson, director of Gulf and Energy Policy Program with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). They are rather critical about the crown prince’s actions and emphasize his impulsive character, due to which his actions are not always well thought out and do not always bring expected results. American observers show a wide range of perception of Saudi Arabia and its leaders, which is quite logic.
“As far as the prince’s stand at home is concerned. First and foremost, he is very popular among liberal intellectuals, and they are quite numerous. A lot of Saudis graduated from universities of the US and Europe, they have seen a different world and are eager to make their country a modern one. They stick to modern views on life, business practices, and attitude towards women.
“It is not a coincident that Mohammed bin Salman in fact forces Saudi Arabia to drop such a traditional, ultraconservative form of Islam as Wahhabism, which originated back in the 18th century among the Bedouin tribes. All that those people knew of life, was the desert, their camels, and a little oasis. They were isolated from other nations and regions. But the Arabic world knew a different model of Islam, which I would name cosmopolitan. It was found in such big cities as medieval Bagdad, Cairo, Alexandria, inhabited by various races and confessions including Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Now the Arabic world witnesses a clash of these two versions of Islam. The second version is manifested first of all through moderate Islam without extremism and radicalism. It is capable of dialog and drives society forward, towards the reality of the 21st century.
“Mohammed bin Salman is building an ideological and spiritual foundation for the reform he is implementing. This is clearly expounded in the introduction to Saudi Vision 2030 and in his most recent speeches, especially his presentation of the mega project NEOM city (the city of the future) and his famous interview to the British Guardian of October 24, in which he said that his country is making a turn towards moderate Islam.
“Saudi Arabia has made a breakthrough. Over the last decades it has amassed the necessary human, material, and intellectual resources to make a leap into a new life. Let us hope that Mohammed bin Salman and his team will be able to avoid sad mistakes which might compromise the success of the transformations, and that Saudi Arabia will rightfully become a leader of the Islamic world and its locomotive towards the future.”
“UKRAINE NEEDS TO CARRY OUT A REFINED POLICY”
Recently Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko visited Saudi Arabia and the UAE. How should Ukraine build its relations with this country and with the Gulf countries in general?
“We need to be aware of, and analyze, the developments in the region, and base our standpoint and strategy on that. Today the region is very turbulent. Unfortunately, such most successful integration structure as the Gulf Cooperation Council is in fact on the verge of split because of the Qatar crisis. This is not our fault. We need to develop relations with all parties of the conflict. I consider this their domestic issue, even if it affects the security situation in the Middle East and globally. Yet Ukraine needs to carry out a refined policy to avoid any possible misunderstanding or conflict. This policy takes what our first President Kravchuk described as ‘staying dry dancing between raindrops.’”
