JEDDAH, 10 October 2004 — Saudi authorities have punished three investors including two foreigners, licensed by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, for allegedly trading in work visas issued by the Labor Ministry.

Ahmed Al-Zamil, deputy minister for labor affairs, said the ministry had frozen recruitment procedures of the three investors for their involvement in visa trading and violating labor rules.

He said one of the three investors applied for work visas without a need for them and later sold them.

“Action was taken against a third investor for employing foreigners in jobs restricted to Saudis, thus violating the Kingdom’s Saudization rules,” Al-Zamil said.

He called upon all employers including foreign investors to abide by the Kingdom’s labor laws.

The Labor Ministry will not allow trading in visas, he said, adding that the names of violators would be published in the print media to expose them.

The ministry recently took action against a number of Saudi companies and individual employers for mistreating foreign workers and not paying their salaries. It has banned defaulters from recruiting foreign workers for a period of five years.

“The Labor Ministry will continue to prevent individuals and companies which mistreat their workers or fail to pay their dues from recruiting workers,” said Al-Zamil who quoted a decision by Labor Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi.

The penal action covered four Saudi employers who failed to pay the salaries of their maids and did not respond to the Labor Office’s summons to settle the disputes with their workers.

“Action was also taken against a privately-run polyclinic when it refused to implement the decision taken by the Supreme Commission for the Settlement of Labor Disputes in the case of an expatriate female doctor,” Al-Mansour said without identifying the clinic.

He said the ministry also banned six private institutions from recruitment for refusing to implement the decision taken by the commission to settle labor disputes and ignoring the Labor Office’s notices to discuss cases presented by their employees.

More than seven million expatriates work in the Kingdom. The majority of these work for private sector companies or with Saudi individuals.

Many expatriates have filed complaints against their employers for not paying their salaries and end of service benefits.