It is alleged that these officials were responsible for encroachments of government land in Wadi Malkan and Wadi Nu’aman in Makkah.

One of the accused is an official in charge of the municipal committee for preventing land grabs.

The second is also a member of the committee and supervisor of lands at the municipality.

A third man who acted as a broker in the deal is also being investigated, Al-Madinah newspaper reported quoting municipal sources.

According to the sources, the committee member was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe from a developer.

The sources said the committee chairman had asked the other official and the broker to talk to the developers. At the end of the talks, the developer agreed to pay a bribe of SR100,000 for two plots of land.

However, the developer told the police, who in turn set a trap that led to the arrest of the committee member.

Citizens who have lands in Wadi Malkan told the newspaper that they had to pay kickbacks to the officials in order to continue construction work on their land.

They bought land covering an area of more than 26,000 square meters to build a development through a real estate office in the region, they said.

This plot formed part of an original title deed for land covering a total area of 618,274 square meters, they added.

When the citizens started erecting enclosures at the development, they were surprised by government officials who demanded SR100,000.

Last Saturday the enclosures were demolished after they rejected the demands, the citizens said.

Owners of other developments said they were shocked to receive notices asking them to contact the municipality office within three days because they were allegedly encroaching.

When they approached the office, they were asked either to give bribes or face demolition.

On a tour to the area, several demolished developments could be seen. It was also evident that most of these developments had electricity connections.

A source at the Saudi Electricity Company said owners of these developments took advantage of a ministerial decision to make available electricity connections to new villages and townships.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that certain authorities sent a confidential letter to municipal authorities with details of bribery allegations against some of its officials.

Osama Al-Bar, mayor of Makkah, refused to comment on the allegations. “The concerned internal monitoring and supervisory agencies at the municipality would examine any allegations and take appropriate action against guilty officials,” he said, adding that occurrences of officials accepting bribes were rare.