Saudi Officials Detain Diriyah Executives

Senior executives tied to a $63 billion development in Riyadh have been detained by Saudi authorities.

The Gulf state’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority, also known as Nazaha, has detained at least two senior executives at the Diriyah megaproject, Semafor reported. At least one higher-up was subsequently released, and it’s unclear whether any former charges were filed. The investigation is ongoing.

Nazaha’s detentions mark one of the highest-profile actions yet in the country’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign, which started in 2017 with the detention of princes, government ministers and business moguls at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh; that effort recovered more than $100 billion in assets.

Last January, Amr Al-Madani, the former CEO of the Royal Commission for tourism project AlUla, was arrested and accused of abuse of authority and money laundering. Nazaha often announces more than 100 arrests each month across government bodies including the defense, interior and education ministries.

Tightening up wasteful or improper spending has been a priority for the country as it looks to transform its economy. Last year alone, the kingdom awarded $150 billion in contracts.

As Saudi Arabia ramps up its construction efforts, Diriyah stands as one of the kingdom’s most prominent developments as one of five so-called gigaprojects bolstering the country’s plan to diversify its economy.

Diriyah will transform the At-Turaif District in Riyadh, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, into a massive mixed-use development, complete with a $1.4 billion opera house, hundreds of tech and media firms, a world-class golf course and branded residences by Armani and Ritz-Carlton. While it was originally envisioned as a 1.3 million-square-foot site, the project has grown to a nearly 46 million-square-foot footprint.

The kingdom’s nearly $1 trillion Public Investment Fund owns the Diriyah project. The goal is to attract 50 million visitors by 2030 and create a home for more than 100,000 residents. The sovereign wealth fund aims to create approximately 178,000 jobs through the development. Once complete, it hopes it will contribute nearly $5 billion to the kingdom’s economy. Major infrastructure at Diriyah is expected to be completed in 2027.

— Chris Malone Méndez