RIYADH: A UN panel of experts has backtracked on corruption and money-laundering claims against Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, saying no evidence was found in a preliminary review, according to letters seen by AFP Thursday.

The experts assessing UN sanctions on Yemen claimed in a January report that the war-ridden country’s central bank “illegally” diverted to traders $423 million from a $2 billion Saudi deposit, that was meant to stabilise the Yemeni currency and enable basic food imports.

But in an update to the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee, the experts said its “preliminary review has not demonstrated evidence of corruption, money laundering or elite capture”.