RIYADH, 4 April 2005 — The owner of a general services office here has disappeared with hundreds of passports and iqamas as well as a large sum of customers’ money.
A notice outside the Artah General Services Office on King Fahd Road (South) said it was shut down due to an emergency situation and asked customers to contact after two weeks.
Meanwhile, calls made to the owner’s mobile phone drew a blank.
There was utter chaos outside the closed office behind the Passport Department when Arab News visited the site in response to a phone call. Saudi customers were agitated. A Pakistani was in tears. There was an atmosphere of tension in the air.
“I lost SR6,000 along with my passport, iqama and degree certificate,” Omar Kutty, a former employee of Saudi Research and Publishing Co. (SRPC), told Arab News. He said he had given Sultan Al-Ajmi, the owner of the establishment, SR6,000 for transfer of his sponsorship from SRPC to the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) about a month ago.
“When I gave the documents and the cash to Sultan, he told me he would get the job done in two days. It is now 28 days. Every time it’s ‘taal bukra, taal bukra’ (‘come tomorrow, come tomorrow’). And now he has closed his office and is not responding to any phone calls,” Omar said.
A Saudi businessman said he had given Artah Services SR4,000 for processing the document of his Indonesian maid. He kept him on empty promises for over a month and yesterday he came only to find his office closed.
Mohammed Faleh, a Sudanese, lost 150 iqamas which he had delivered to Artah for renewal and other services.
Another person said Sultan had been playing games with the people. When cornered, he would pay them off with the money he had received from another customer.
A tearful Fayyaz Mohammed Ali told Arab News that Sultan took from him SR3,000 for the transfer of sponsorship and change of profession.
“I have been running back and forth for the last seven to eight months. Today he has locked up his office. How can I move around without iqama? Who will pay the penalty?” said Fayyaz, a Pakistani.
The victims said that when they represented their grievances at a meeting with a senior official of the Passport Department, they were told that Sultan had assured them that he was installing a new system under which payment could be made through a bank.
Both Omar and Fayyaz said they have lodged complaints with the Dira police. “They have not done anything beyond advising us to take the matter to the court. This won’t help us, since going to court means waiting for one to two years before we know the outcome of the case. Recovery of the amount is not as important as recovery of the documents. If we get them back, then the amount due to us could be settled through the court,” Omar said.
According to Omar, the Artah Services’ closure is not a one-off incident but rather symptomatic of a deeper malaise. “Some other general services establishments have also landed their customers in trouble. The point is that we deal with a particular agent because it is recognized by the Passport Department. And these agents are betraying our trust in them by behaving in this manner.”
That’s how Muzammil Sayeed, a Sudanese, fell into his trap when he approached Artah Services for the renewal of iqama, for which he also had to surrender his passport.
Muzammil, who came to Riyadh from Taif, said: “I don’t know anybody here. I arrived here a month ago and spend SR20 daily on food alone. Sultan told me that my work would be completed in a day or two. I am facing a lot of hardships for entrusting my work to him.”
