Eleven expatriates here face charges of bribing a government official to facilitate paperwork for their company, a local newspaper reported Monday.
The foreigners, of various nationalities, would appear in the Administrative Court in Jeddah in the next few days following the charges brought by the Control and Investigation Commission in Makkah, a source was quoted as saying.
The court will also prosecute the government official on charges of accepting the bribes.
The commission accused one resident of transferring money to the account of the government official, and making monthly payments in return for favors during working hours.
The state charged the suspects after a thorough investigation by various crime-fighting agencies. The court will also take up several other cases involving bribery over the next few days, the source said.
The suspects face charges under articles of the Kingdom’s anti-corruption and bribery legislation, including sections of the Royal Decree No. 43 on forgery.
Jeddah courts have been considering several cases of corruption involving government officials over the past few years, including around the 2009 floods.
The appeal court in Makkah is currently dealing with a bribery case involving a Saudi woman and a government official.
The Administrative Court in Jeddah recently imprisoned and fined people for forgery, abuse of power, undermining the law, misuse of public funds, destroying lives, damaging public property and wasting more than SR100 million of the Kingdom’s money.
Source: arabnews
