Saudi Crown Prince: We Need 'Chemo' to Cure 'Cancer of Corruption'

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia needs shock therapy to root out corruption in the country just like a cancer patient needs chemotherapy, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in an interview released on Wednesday.

"You have a body that has cancer everywhere, the cancer of corruption. You need to have chemo, the shock of chemo, or the cancer will eat the body," the crown prince said in the interview with The Washington Post newspaper.

The prince has also stated that he wanted to see energetic people in power so that the country's modernization targets could be achieved, commenting on a series of new appointments announced by his father King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on Monday.

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In November, the Saudi Arabian anti-corruption committee chaired by the crown prince ordered the detention of a number of prominent Saudi Arabian figures, including members of the royal family, former ministers, servicemen and entrepreneurs.

Saudi Arabian banks have frozen over 2,000 domestic accounts as part of the anti-corruption purges. In late January, the Saudi Attorney General said 56 people of 381 detained remained in custody.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed a series of major changes that touched the country's economy, social and political spheres since King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud took the throne in 2015. The significant role in the reform process in the country belongs to Mohammed bin Salman, who was appointed as Crown Prince in June 2017.