The kingdom's anti-corruption body, Nazaha, said it carried out the arrests over the last month of the Islamic lunar calendar, Dhu al-Hijjah, which ended this week. Those detained are citizens and foreign residents, and include employees at several ministries such as defence, interior, health, justice and environment. They were arrested due to their involvement in bribery, fraud and abuse of their position’s authority, Nazaha said in a statement on Monday evening. Investigations are also under way, with another 461 people already facing different charges, it added. In recent years, Saudi Arabia said it launched a crackdown on corruption, as the kingdom's powerful crown prince seeks to diversify the country's economy and make it less dependant on oil. Mohammed bin Salman was seen as spearheading what Riyadh described as an anti-corruption drive in 2017-18, when dozens of high-profile royals and former state officials were detained for three months. Many reached financial settlements with the authorities, which the kingdom said were worth more than 100 billion dollars. Since then, courts have also convicted many public employees and sentenced them to jail for corruption and bribery.