Shocking scandal: 1 billion riyals withdrawn to fund new political entity in Hadramout

HADRAMOUT, Aug. 15 (YPA) – Human rights and media sources on Saturday exposed an unprecedented financial and political scandal in Yemen’s Hadramout Governorate, involving the alleged withdrawal of more than 1 billion Yemeni riyals to fund a political entity aligned with Saudi Arabia.

Prominent journalist Awad Kashmeem said in a Facebook post that the funds were withdrawn by Saudi-appointed Governor Salem Al-Khanbashi from the accounts of the two oil companies operating in the coastal and valley regions of the governorate. 

He said the money was used to finance preparations for the launch of the so-called “Supreme Coordinating Council of Hadramout Forces,” describing the move as a dangerous precedent in the governorate’s history of political corruption.

Bin Hilabi added that the withdrawn funds were allocated to the council’s 50-member preparatory committee, with each member reportedly receiving 3,000 Saudi riyals for every meeting held by the committee, as the governorate’s public service sectors continue to face worsening hardships.

He argued that Hadramout’s teachers should have been prioritized for the funds to help improve their living conditions, or that the money should have been used to purchase fuel for power stations instead of being spent on what he called “failed political theatrics.”

Bin Hilabi blamed the governorate’s deteriorating conditions on the legacy of the “deep state” and the activities of leaders and figures affiliated with the Saudi-backed General People’s Congress.

He accused these forces of deliberately undermining and weakening state institutions to serve the interests and agendas of external actors seeking to keep the state permanently weak by exploiting local political forces, in an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia.

@E.Y.M