Wednesday, Mar 29, 2017

Muscat: There has been a 7.5 per cent decline in the number of corruption cases in Oman in 2016 compared to 2015, the Public Prosecution has said.

The move to combat bribery, embezzlement, money-laundering and other suspicious financial transactions comes as a part of Oman’s “war” on corruption which was introduced in June 2015 when the country officially joined the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

More than 20 government officials and private executives from Oman’s oil industry and related sectors have been jailed and fined for offering or accepting bribes in exchange for contracts, mostly in infrastructure projects in the past six years.

In 2014, the Muscat Primary Court convicted the former minister of commerce and industry, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communication and the Chief Executive Officer of the Oman Oil Company for corruption.

Currently, 17 cases have been resolved, 18 cases have been shelved over lack of evidence and 16 cases are currently being probed.

Settlements in corruption cases have added 14.76 million Omani riyals to the state treasury.

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