ABHA, 25 October— The Court of Grievances in Riyadh has upheld the order of a lower court to reinstate a dismissed official of the Passport Department. The officer was dismissed by the director general of the Passports Department on charges of permitting foreigners enter the Kingdom with the help forged Saudi ID cards while he was working in Najran airport, in the southern part of the Kingdom.
The Court of Grievances affirmed the validity of the verdict of the lower court after an appeal was lodged with it, and confirmed that the officer had been dismissed by an authority which did not have the power to make such a decision.
In light of the higher court’s directive, Yahya Al-Shahrani, attorney for the officer, has sent a notice to the Passport Department calling for the reinstatement of the dismissed employee.
Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Sajeeni, director general of the Passports Department, had earlier said that the officer had made a mistake that had compromised the honor of his profession.
The dismissed officer approached the Court of Grievances after his several appeals and attempts to cancel his punishment failed. He argued that he did not deliberately allow foreigners enter the country or forge documents. He allowed them to pass through the department’s counter because “the foreigners, who spoke in faultless Saudi Arabic, showed ID cards carrying their photographs.”
Earlier, a departmental punishment board had handed down a fine of two months’ salary and a month’s jail.
In another development, Commerce Minister Osama Faqeeh endorsed a decision handed down by the ministry’s legal board to admit an expat’s complaint against a Saudi and reject a counter-complaint filed by the Saudi.
The Saudi complained that the expat had cheated him by giving him a check for SR100,000 although there was no money in the expat’s bank account.
According to the expat’s lawyer, the Saudi made an agreement with the expat to transport several Haj pilgrims form Alkhobar to Makkah and Madinah and take them on their return journey, against a quote of SR216,000.
The expat gave an advance of SR10,048 to the Saudi and promised to pay the balance on his return from the pilgrimage. When the Saudi demanded a guarantee for the remaining amount, the expat gave him a post-dated check for SR100,000.
However, the Saudi did not fulfill the agreement after their arrival at Makkah. He left the pilgrims stranded in Makkah and did not take them to Madinah or back to Alkhobar, according to the expat’s lawyer. The pilgrims on their return complained to the Alkhobar police, who made the expat pay SR16,450 in compensation to the pilgrims — who had to travel back on their own.
In the legal battle that followed between the Saudi and expat, the latter was ordered to pay SR100,000 to the Saudi and a fine of SR4,000 for issuing a check when it could not be covered by the money in his bank account.
Finally, the expat approached the Commerce Ministry which reversed all the verdicts against him as the original cause for his issuing the bounced check no longer existed, as the Saudi did not in the end transport the pilgrims back home as everyone had agreed he would.
