Law of the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority

Purpose and scope

• Governs the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority, which reports to the King; corruption offences include bribery, attacks on public funds, abuse of power and others it specifies (Articles 2 and 3).

Key rules, rights and obligations

• The authority carries out administrative oversight of public bodies, protects integrity, fights corruption, and receives and checks complaints and reports (Article 4).
• It may request records, documents and information from bodies within its remit, which must provide them within set periods (Article 5).
• It applies the Criminal Procedure Law to corruption offences (Article 6), and its criminal investigation and prosecution unit investigates and brings cases before the competent court (Article 11).

Violations, penalties and common problems

• A conviction of a public official for a corruption offence leads to dismissal (Article 18).
• If an official's wealth grows out of proportion to their income, based on evidence from financial inquiries, the burden is on them to prove its lawful source (Article 19).
• A suspect fleeing abroad or dying does not stop the authority from gathering evidence to bring a case (Article 20).

Procedures and key deadlines

• Corruption reports are made to the authority through its channels, and it helps to attach any available documents.
• The authority submits an annual report to the King within ninety days of the end of the financial year (Article 17).

An advisory summary prepared by Al-Bayan Al-Wadih Law Firm. It is not an official text and does not replace the law, its implementing regulations, or advice from a specialised lawyer. The official published text and its amendments prevail.