Nazaha headquarters in Riyadh.

The Supreme Judicial Council has rejected a proposal for the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha) to monitor judges in corruption cases because it believes this would threaten the independence of the judiciary.

Sheikh Salman Al-Nashwan, the council’s spokesman, said the Nazaha would only be allowed to receive copies of rulings made by judges in these cases, and could follow up under the direction of a special judicial committee, according to a press report on Wednesday.

The council issued the statement in the wake of reports that the Nazaha was not being empowered to carry out its task of monitoring corruption in the public sector.

Al-Nashwan said the refusal was not an attempt to prevent the Nazaha from doing its work but was only a concern raised about the independence of the judiciary. The council was the only body empowered to monitor judges, he said.

He said there was considerable cooperation with the Nazaha currently in dealing with corruption cases. If the Nazaha wanted to monitor officials working at courts in terms of administrative work, then it was allowed to do this. However, special permission would be needed for this kind of oversight, he said.

Last year, the Shoura Council rejected a recommendation by some of its members for the Nazaha to monitor the bank accounts of people suspected of corruption.

The Shoura stated that the anti-graft body should not be allowed to work through the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, the Kingdom’s central bank, if it wanted to have information on banks.

However, the Shoura did approve a proposal for the Nazaha to get copies of the final court rulings issued on corruption cases, and to seek ways to recover stolen public funds.

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