Ex-Jeddah official took SR5m in bribes

The Control and Investigation Board has revealed that a former senior manager at the Land Grants Department at the Secretariat of Jeddah took bribes totaling SR5 million from businessmen and real estate agents in exchange for revealing confidential information on untitled lands, lands that were not included in state ownership or land to be granted to citizens.
The bribes, it was confirmed, were aimed at facilitating the buying and selling of land in several areas.
According to a statement made by the Public Prosecution Authority, the defendant had confessed to receiving bribes totaling SR1 million from real estate dealers in return for facilitating titling procedures. He also confessed to having received other bribes totaling close to SR4 million from staff, businessmen and real estate traders for revealing confidential information related to his work in managing land grants.
According to the confession, he provided information about land plots that were yet to be titled in Jeddah, and in the process, allowed them to apply for grant documents on the land.
The Administrative Tribunal decided during its meeting Thursday that a verdict will be announced in the case on Muharram 8.
The defendant claimed that the complaint made by the second suspect, a real estate dealer, was exaggerated, and that he did not know anything about him or about his dealings with the Land Grants Department.
The court confronted the defendant with a statement made by a witness about his having received SR500,000 in bribe.
The defendant then claimed that the witness was a partner of the second defendant and owns 5 percent of the land, thus making him a beneficiary from such a complaint.
The court asked the second defendant if he had made a complaint to recover the bribe amount reported earlier to authorities.
He responded in the positive and sought the court’s intervention to recover the amount.
The court, however, clarified that as a defendant, he does not have the right to claim the bribe until a ruling is issued on the case.