JEDDAH, 29 March 2005 — Security officials in Makkah are questioning around 100 Saudis and expatriates involved in selling government-owned real estate south of the city.
Police rounded them up earlier this week in a wide-ranging raid in villages in southern Makkah, reported Al-Eqtisadiah daily, a sister publication of Arab News. The accused duped customers by selling them the property through real estate agents who gave them officially authorized documents but no legal deeds.
“We began receiving complaints from people about the transactions some time ago and so Prince Abdul Majeed, governor of Makkah, instructed that a committee be formed which is now looking into the matter and should conclude its findings by next week,” said a source at the Makkah governorate.
The committee consists of representatives from the governorate, the police and the municipality. It is questioning those involved in the illegal sale and is seeking to determine the amount of money they gained as well as locations of land they illegally sold.
“They are also investigating the real estate agents who participated in authenticating documents. The municipality will then present a list of the real estate agents involved in the scam to the Ministry of Commerce. The committee will recommend a punishment for the real estate agents,” he said.
It is not clear what kind of punishment is awaiting the accused if they are found guilty. The municipality is removing all trespassers on its property and there is a committee to monitor all such activities but clearly it has its limitations, commented the source. The municipality is currently studying a proposal to distribute those government-owned lots of land to low-income citizens.
In order to prevent these kinds of scams from recurring, the Makkah Municipality is implementing a new system of registering real estate property.
The new electronic data-base system aims at preventing ownership of the same property by several individuals.
All municipalities in coordination with the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs are in the process of implementing this system throughout this year after completing the initial stage of aerial imaging and mapping.
