Social media joins the fight against corruption

A new report from the Public Authority for Combating Corruption (Nazaha) reveals that ‘whistle-blowers’ in public sector entities and private firms have been using social media platforms to tip-off the Authority on corruption and other wrongdoing in their enterprises.

Information provided by these individuals, as well as investigative reports in newspapers, websites and social media platforms is enabling Nazaha to go after the corrupt, and track down information on their crimes.

Nazaha said in its report that during the period from the beginning of 2019 to August of this year, 59 corruption-related crimes in various government agencies in different areas were discovered and 111 officials were suspected of involvement in corruption. Of these, 45 were assistants and 66 were either directors or deputies of various entities and institutions. The cases monitored during this period included alleged corruption related to seven ministers, 14 undersecretaries, 6 directors, and 14 of unspecified job status.

The report also showed that the Authority received a total of 646 complaints on various corruption crimes. Individuals were responsible for providing information used in 219 reports, followed by 68 reports from government agencies, and 5 were being monitored previously by the relevant department in Nazaha.