They comprise representatives from the Control and Investigation Bureau and Police Administrative Investigation Department.

The committee is expected to call suspects, including businessmen and government officials, and confront them with incriminating evidence against them.

The committees would also carry out field visits to the acquired land and examine the deeds to ascertain if they are authentic.

The sources said the work of the committees would result in revealing a number of cases of administrative corruption, similar to what happened in Jeddah following the floods in late 2009 and also in the region of Badr lately.

Sources said many of the suspects involved in illegally occupying land in various parts of Madinah province are very nervous after Madinah Gov. Prince Abdul Aziz bin Majed ordered the immediate formation of a committee to investigate land grants by Badr municipality.

The prince demanded a detailed report on the land grants and citizens who have been waiting for many years to be given pieces of land.

Prince Abdul Aziz said the issue of land grants in Badr revealed similar cases in the city of Yanbu and ordered that investigations be carried out there immediately.

The prince was surprised that children no older than 10 were being given land grants. “This is totally unacceptable, especially as some eligible citizens have been on the waiting list to receive land grants for more than 24 years,” he said.

The sources said citizens had complained to government departments about land thieves fraudulently acquiring plots worth more than SR150 million.

They said some of the lands have high commercial value as they were in the central area of Yanbu, close to the sea. The sources said the suspects were keen to get their hands on these lands as their prices would increase by more than 400 percent.

The sources said the investigation would include all those involved in the fraud and in the issuing of fake deeds, commonly known as “floating deeds”. They said the investigation committees have a number of documents including photos that would incriminate the suspects. The committee investigating cases of illegal confiscation of lands in Badr received a comprehensive file with evidence and documents provided by some residents in the city.

The sources revealed that a number of officials at the municipal service center in Al-Rais district in Badr encroached on empty lands, issued deeds for them and built rest houses on them after fencing them in with wood. They said the construction work was done at night.

According to the sources, the investigation committee discovered that a member of the local land granting committee gave his brother and his cousin two pieces of land in a prominent location in Badr region about two years ago, even though they had missed the deadline for submitting their application for a land grant.

Badr municipality was inundated by citizens who did not receive their land grants for various reasons and they promised to give the investigation committees complete files about possible violations.

According to the sources, the former chairman of Badr municipality gave three chairmen of other municipalities plots of lands in luxurious locations in Badr.

They said he gave the grants to the former chairmen of the municipalities of Rabigh, Wadi Al-Faraa and Khaibar for land on commercial streets with a market value now exceeding SR500,000.

The said Badr municipality officials used to give plots of lands to certain people who, in turn, would sell them back for nominal prices not exceeding SR20,000 a piece.

Many citizens in Madinah province have called for the immediate formation of investigation committees to look at issued land grants and floating land deeds, saying that they were unable to buy land because of their small areas and high prices.

Chairman of Yanbu municipality Abdul Aali Al-Sheikh denied that the municipality would consider floating deeds and said it only considers official deeds issued by notary offices.

He said if there are any cases involving fraudulent deeds, they would be studied by the courts.

A number of Saudi citizens have called for the investigation into administrative corruption to cover all parts of the Kingdom.