Nizahat delegation discusses with Saudi Anti-Corruption Authority the development of anti-corruption tools

The Public Authority for Combating Corruption (Nizahat) confirmed that its delegation’s visit to the Saudi Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaah) is part of its strategy to enhance cooperation with peer institutions and to learn from advanced regional and international experiences in combating corruption. The visit aims to benefit from models that have achieved tangible results in oversight, investigation, prosecution of corruption cases, asset recovery, and protection of public funds.

Dr. Rana Al-Faris, Chairperson of Nizahat, led the delegation during the official visit to Riyadh. She was accompanied by Dr. Majid Al-Daihani, Vice Chairman of Nizahat’s Board of Directors; Dr. Dhiya Al-Attiyah, Board Member; Fawaz Al-Mutairi, Assistant Secretary-General for the Corruption Detection and Investigation Sector; and Abdulrahman Al-Wazan, Representative of the International Cooperation Department. The visit was conducted under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two authorities in 2022, reflecting a shared commitment to further activate this agreement and translate institutional cooperation into practical exchanges of expertise and experiences.

Dr. Al-Faris emphasized that the visit to the Saudi Anti-Corruption Authority aligns with Nizahat’s dedication to strengthening ties with peer bodies and leveraging advanced anti-corruption practices. She noted that the visit offers an opportunity to study one of the most prominent regional experiences in this field, benefiting from a robust and decisive model in oversight, investigation, accountability, asset recovery, and protection of public funds.

She added that the Saudi experience has achieved notable results in combating corruption, including the recovery of funds and assets, as well as accumulating substantial institutional and practical expertise in prosecuting corruption cases, enhancing oversight, and safeguarding public wealth.

“We look forward to benefiting from experiences that have proven their ability to deliver practical results in fighting corruption, and to moving from merely identifying vulnerabilities and suspicions to adopting more effective tools for detection, investigation, accountability, protection of public funds, and asset recovery,” Al-Faris stated.

She further explained that combating corruption goes beyond prevention and awareness; it requires a comprehensive system equipped with the necessary tools and capacities for detection, investigation, accountability, as well as prevention, integrity promotion, and transparency. This makes exchanging knowledge with peer institutions that possess advanced experiences a crucial component in developing institutional and technical capabilities.

Al-Faris highlighted that Nizahat views this visit as the beginning of a broader path of practical cooperation with the Saudi Anti-Corruption Authority, building upon the existing MoU to transform it into more effective collaborative channels that enable mutual benefit from shared expertise and experiences.

For his part, Dr. Majid Al-Daihani, Vice Chairman of Nizahat’s Board of Directors, stated that the visit aims to build on successful experiences and practices, leveraging them practically to develop oversight tools and enhance Nizahat’s institutional and technical capacities.

He clarified that benefiting from advanced experiences does not mean copying them wholesale, but rather studying their tools, practices, and outcomes, and adopting those that align with Kuwait’s legal and institutional environment. He affirmed that exchanging knowledge and expertise with peer institutions constitutes an important pathway for developing the anti-corruption system and strengthening its capacity to protect public funds.

Al-Daihani added that the coming phase will see Nizahat keen on expanding cooperation with peer institutions and studying the best regional and international experiences and practices, thereby contributing to the development of the Authority’s tools and capabilities and enhancing its effectiveness in preventing and combating corruption.

The visit included reviewing the Saudi experience and the operational mechanisms employed by the Saudi Anti-Corruption Authority, as well as presenting the most prominent institutional experiences and practices of both parties. Discussions also covered several files of mutual interest in the fields of oversight, investigation, and corruption prevention, mechanisms for handling financial and administrative corruption cases and asset recovery, and the development of institutional and technical tools supporting anti-corruption efforts.

The visit comes as an extension of the longstanding fraternal relations between the State of Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and within the framework of institutional cooperation between the two authorities under the MoU signed in 2022, thereby enhancing joint coordination and the exchange of knowledge and expertise in the fields of integrity, oversight, and anti-corruption.