JEDDAH, 13 May 2008 — The Council of Ministers yesterday set up a high-level panel to monitor all existing real estate share businesses and take steps to protect the interests of their shareholders.
The weekly Cabinet meeting in Riyadh, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, also authorized the panel to take legal action against those businesses that misuse public money.
Led by Commerce and Industry Minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza, the panel includes undersecretaries at the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance.
“The panel can appoint an auditor’s office to prepare a report on the financial rights of shareholders,” said State Minister and Acting Culture and Information Minister Dr. Saud Al-Muthami.
Quoting the Cabinet decision, Al-Muthami said the auditor’s office would report regularly on real estate share businesses in the country and follow up their activities until their liquidation, protecting the rights of shareholders.
In a related development, Saleh Al-Naeem, liquidator of the Venice Island real estate project south of Jeddah, said investors in the project would get back their money they invested in the project within two days through the Arab National Bank.
Al-Naeem said that the amount would include SR73 million of liquid money that was with Al-Duraibi Group, developers of the project and that had been frozen by the government. He also added that the land has been sold for SR1.88 billion to new owners and that the price of land per square meter had reached SR96.
The project’s profit and the method and date of its distribution would be decided by court, Al-Naeem said, adding that liquidation expenditures would not exceed five percent of the total value.
In other decisions, the Cabinet approved the establishment of a new insurance company named Ace Arabia Cooperative Insurance Co. and approved the accounts of the Saudi Railway Organization for 2006.
Earlier, King Abdullah briefed the ministers on the outcome of his talks with Tony Blair, envoy of the Middle East Quartet, adding that the talks focused on international efforts to bring about a just settlement for peace in the Middle East.
While discussing situations in other parts of the region, the Cabinet supported Khartoum’s efforts to establish peace in all parts of Sudan, urged the Yemeni government to peacefully settle its conflict with the Houti tribe and called on Djibouti and Eritrea to solve their border dispute through peaceful means.
— With input by Samir Al-Saadi
