Just a couple of months after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's shock resignation from Saudi Arabia, the kingdom's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has reportedly expressed interest in seizing the assets of Hariri, as revealed by The New Arab.

Riyadh has its eyes set on Hariri's assets in Saudi Oger construction company, which discontinued operations in July 2017, "in return for canceling outstanding debts."

"Although Saudi Oger does not have many assets left after liquidating its businesses, the authorities are determined to reclaim all funds and assets that were sold off," the unnamed source is believed to have told The New Arab.

Saudi Oger - founded by Lebanon's late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - put a halt to its operations after 39 years in the business. The majority of the company's assets have been transferred. 

However, the company still has three projects, including a 15-year maintenance and operation contract for a university in the kingdom. 

Following MBS's new leadership role in the kingdom, Saudi Oger witnessed its closure amid financial burdens the company has been facing for years.

"The government owes Oger about 30 billion riyals ($8 billion) for work it has completed. This huge backlog of payments has left Oger struggling to meet its obligations, including 15 billion riyals of loans, billions of riyals owed to contractors and suppliers, and 2.5 billion riyals to workers in back and severance pay," Reuters reported in 2016.

In November, a crackdown on corruption in the kingdom saw over 208 nationals – including leading princes, businessmen, and scholars – get detained under orders from a new anti-corruption committee, lead by MBS.

A number of high-profile Saudi officials were transferred to Riyadh's Ritz Carlton which has now become a "luxury prison." 

The luxury hotel will reopen next month for business as many of the cases are coming to a close.

Saudi authorities said "they expect the vast majority of suspects to agree to financial settlements of charges against them, and that Riyadh hopes to recover about $100 billion of illicit funds," according to The Telegraph.

In November, authorities in the kingdom asked those detained to "pay for their freedom." According to The Financial Times, the Saudi government is demanding up to 70 percent of the detained individuals' personal wealth. 

According to Khaleej Times, an Arab woman has been sentenced to six months in jail and fined 5,000 dirhams for trying to bribe a female employee in the traffic and licensing department of Sharjah Police.

The accused, who offered chocolate and 500 dirhams to the official, will also be deported after completing her prison term.

The woman has reportedly failed her driving test seven times already and therefore tried to bribe a female traffic official to help her get over the final barrier and asked her to issue her a driving license.

The female staff, who refused to accept her bribe, immediately informed the police because she "couldn't have done something that violated her job ethics", Khaleej Times reports.

Subsequently, the Arab woman was referred to the court and charged with bribery.

Police records state that the accused offered the money as a bribe, which is punishable under Articles 237 and 238 of the UAE's Federal Penal Code.

Throughout the court hearing, the defendant said that she gave the chocolate and money as a gift and had no intention to bribe the staff. However, during the investigation of the prosecution, the plaintiff said that the accused had told him about her difficulty in obtaining a license.

Right from the beginning of the investigation into her case of alleged bribery, the accused, who is in her thirties, claimed to be innocent, stating that she didn't seek any favor from the staff at the traffic and licensing department of Sharjah Police.

However, the court refused to accept her defense and sentenced her to six months in jail, fined her 5,000 dirhams, followed by deportation.

• Article 237 of the Federal Penal Code says that any offer made to a public official or a public servant, even if he or she has not accepted it, shall be punished by imprisonment.
• Article 238 underlines that the offender shall be fined 1,000 dirhams or more for the crime.