Be fair, open in handling trials

The US State Department said on Tuesday it was urging Saudi Arabia to be "fair and transparent" in its handling of any prosecutions stemming from a sweeping corruption probe that has resulted in the arrests of dozens of top Saudi officials.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States had no advance knowledge of the corruption crackdown that unfolded over the weekend and resulted in the detention of members of the royal family, ministers and investors, including prominent billionaire businessman Alwaleed bin Talal.

"We continue to encourage Saudi authorities to pursue the prosecution of people they believe to have been corrupt officials; we expect them to do it in a fair and transparent manner," Nauert told a briefing. "We call on the government of Saudi Arabia to do that."

Nauert said the United States had received assurances from the Saudi government that it would do so, but another US official later told reporters that she had misspoken and that they had no such assurances that they could discuss in public.

Asked about Saudi Arabia's increasingly tough talk toward Iran and Lebanon, Nauert pointed to what she said was Iran's destabilizing activity and the Lebanese Hezbollah group's past record of attacks against US military personnel.

Saudi Arabia accused Lebanon on Monday of declaring war against it because of aggression by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia group backed by Iran. Saad al-Hariri, the Saudi-allied Lebanese prime minister, resigned on Saturday, blaming Iran and Hezbollah in his resignation speech, reported Reuters.

Nauert told reporters that Lebanon was a strong US partner. Hezbollah has influential ties across Lebanon. Hariri's coalition government, which took office last year, grouped nearly all Lebanon's main parties, including Hezbollah. Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, is president.

"The United States strongly supports the legitimate institutions in the Lebanese state," Nauert said. "We expect all members of the international community to respect fully those institutions and the sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon."

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday roundly rejected reports that a prominent prince had been killed in a sweeping anti-corruption purge of the kingdom's elite.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd, a son of the late king Fahd, was rumoured to have been killed in custody or while resisting arrest amid the crackdown at the weekend.

The hashtag "death of Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd" has since featured on social media, fuelling fevered speculation online.

"There is no truth whatsoever to rumours circulating in media concerning Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd," an information ministry spokesman said in a statement.

"Prince Abdulaziz is alive and well," he added.

The prince could not be independently reached for comment, reported AFP.

Human Rights Watch said yesterday Saudi Arabia's arrest of prominent royals and businessmen under the banner of battling corruption could in fact be more a case of internal power politics.

"The middle-of-the-night simultaneous establishment of a new corruption body and mass arrests over corruption raise concerns that Saudi authorities detained people en masse and without outlining the basis of the detentions," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at the New York-based HRW.

The purge triggered uncertainty among businesses that could lead to capital flight or derail reforms, experts say, at a time when the kingdom is seeking to attract badly needed investments to offset a protracted oil slump.

The central bank stepped in this week to soothe those concerns, insisting that the targets were errant individuals and not entire corporations -- not even those with ties to the arrested businessmen.

"Corporate businesses remain unaffected. It is business as usual for both banks and corporates," the central bank said.