Anonymous ID: baf434 March 15, 2020, 9:48 p.m. No.8433563   ๐Ÿ—„๏ธ.is ๐Ÿ”—kun   >>3608 >>3803

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN21212I

 

Saudi Arabia detains 298 public officials in new corruption probes

 

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Sunday announced the detention of hundreds of government officials, including military and security officers, on charges involving bribery and exploiting public office, and said investigators would bring charges against them.

 

Scores of the kingdom's economic and political elite were detained in 2017 at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel in a corruption crackdown that unsettled some foreign investors.

 

The royal court said last year it was winding down that campaign after 15 months, but the authorities later said they would start going after graft by ordinary government employees.

 

An anti-corruption body known as Nazaha tweeted on Sunday that it had arrested and would indict 298 people on crimes such as bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power involving a total of 379 million riyals ($101 million).

 

Among those implicated are eight defense ministry officers suspected of bribery and money laundering in relation to government contracts during the years 2005-2015, and 29 interior ministry officials in the Eastern Province, including three colonels, a major general and a brigadier general.

 

Two judges were also detained for receiving bribes, along with nine officials accused of corruption at Riyadh's AlMaarefa University which resulted in severe damage to a building and caused deaths and injuries, Nazaha said.

 

The agency provided no names and few other details about the cases.

Anonymous ID: baf434 March 15, 2020, 9:55 p.m. No.8433619   ๐Ÿ—„๏ธ.is ๐Ÿ”—kun   >>3634

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/italian-is-first-catholic-priest-known-to-die-of-coronavirus-81799

 

Seven Italian priests have reportedly died of coronavirus

 

Cremona, Italy, Mar 15, 2020 / 09:58 am (CNA).- A Catholic priest has died in Italy from coronavirus, and local Italian media reported Sunday the death of several others. No priests have previously been reported dead from the global pandemic, which has struck Italy more gravely than nearly any other country in the world.

 

Monsignor Vincenzo Rini was a priest of the Diocese of Cremona, close to Milan, and near Italyโ€™s epicenter of the pandemic. Rini died Saturday.

 

Msgr. Rini ran Cremonaโ€™s diocesan newspaper for 30 years, and was at one time the president of the Italian bishopsโ€™ news agency. He was also a novelist, and a noted literary expert, who served as the Churchโ€™s liaison to the Cristina di Savoia Cultural Congresses, which aim to promote Christian culture in Italy.

 

In Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishopsโ€™ conference, journalistic colleagues of Rini wrote that the priest โ€œrepresented an open window to hope, the virtue that had always characterized his life.โ€