JEDDAH, 8 May — A Saudi who survived a road accident last January in which he was paralyzed and his wife and children were killed has been denied compensation, Al-Madinah newspaper reported.
A speeding truck belonging to a major company collided with the car in which Fayae Yahya Al-Asiri and his family were traveling between Darb and Shaqiq in Jizan last January.
The man believes that he is being deprived of his right to compensation because "wasta" (influence peddling) has been brought to bear on his case.
When he approached the authorities for his rightful compensation, he was told that he was in fact the culprit in the accident, and not the victim, the paper quoted Al-Asiri as saying.
He also learned that his car had been impounded, while the truck which caused the accident was given back to its owner, even before the formalities relating to the accident had been completed.
But what really shocked the Saudi was how the police demanded that he agree to a compromise formula which included him waiving 50 percent of his compensation because the truck driver was only half responsible for the accident.
Al-Asiri argues that the truck driver was fully responsible for the accident because the truck had neither lights nor reflectors when the accident occurred.
He strongly suspects that the interference of some influential people might have changed the course of the case.
However, the judge at the Shaqiq court refused to re-examine the case when he was presented the police report naming the truck driver and Al-Asiri equally responsible for the accident.
Col. Abdul Aziz Al-Haqwi, director of the traffic department in Jizan, said that the case has been referred back to the Shaqiq police for further investigation.
