AlSharif left receiving reward from health minster

Story

A Mr. Bander AlSharif was awarded by order of the king 50 thousand Saudi Riyals and a promotion to the next level. The awarded was in response to the honestly of AlSharif in reporting an attempted bribe.

AlSharif a staff member of the minster of health was approached by representatives of a medical company. The company was obligated to pay millions of riyals to ministry according to a penalty clause in their contract with the ministry. The company offered AlSharif 150 thousand SR to arrange for the canclation of the clause to avoide the payment. AlSharif accepted the offer and immediately reported it to the proper authorities who arrange a sting operation to capture the company representatives in the process of handing over the money. As a result the company will be fine for its actions and banned from and future contracts with the ministry. Criminal charges will be issued to the guilty parties.

Commentary

First thing that cam to mind was the guys name AlSharif which means the honest one in Arabic. Apparently this guy carried the right name. It also nice to see such people rewarded as it encourages others to report such violations and for those that bribe to think twice before attempting it. Saudi Arabia has a rising problem with corruption in recent years due to multiple reasons. Greed is of course one, need is another, and just corruption is another. Saudi used to and still has a problem with a different bribe system a system called wasta (some that knows someone can take care of it) and involved no money as its all about status and relations, people just helping other for exchange of favors or just to show off or to help a friend or family member. Bribery was as common as now mainly because Saudi had a small population and a bribe could easy be discovered as everybody knew everybody else. But with the growth of the country bribes have started to be common and a stand against it is needed. This is one way to fight it and hope they push on.