Sometime ago I wrote about an incident that happened to me in one of our courts here in Saudi Arabia.
I will repeat some of what I said to refresh your memories.
Many years ago I started a company with a partner to trade in live sheep imports and animal feed.
After a number of years I discovered that my partner was cheating me and had defrauded the company out of several million riyals.
I took him to court and filed a suit to get back the money stolen from the company and I also filed a suit to liquidate the company.
After nine years of legal action in court (another story by itself) the court finally ruled in my favor and ordered the liquidation of the company and its removal from the companies’ registry.
So far so good.
After three years I noticed that I was still paying taxes on this company, so, I called my finance director and asked why I was still paying taxes on a company that had been liquidated by court order.
He informed me that the company had in fact not been liquidated and we were obliged to continue paying its taxes until it was liquidated.
I asked why the blue blazes it was still not liquidated?
He said, “Because the judge in the case refuses to give us a copy of his ruling!”
I was naturally shocked and immediately called my lawyer who confirmed that indeed we had for the past three years been unable to obtain a copy of the judge’s ruling.
I was amazed and asked “why does the judge refuse to give me a copy of his ruling in order for me to complete the process of liquidating the company?”
My lawyer answered: “Between you and me, I think it is because he has lost or misplaced the entire file relating to our case. But, don’t worry; I will do my best to fix this problem.”
That was last year; and I still am paying taxes on that company.
This incident upset me until I had an epiphany of sorts. I realized that the judge in this case was behaving out of the purest of motives.
Think about this for a moment; if I had successfully liquidated the company I would no longer pay taxes on it.
I would spend the money I saved on paying off my car’s installments or to pay the rent of my house or on my children’s school fees. All of these are personal expenditures that benefit only me, but by continuing to pay taxes on this liquidated company my money goes into the coffers of the state that in turn pays for the education of hundreds of thousands of my fellow countrymen and women. My taxes also go to pay for the public health care system that benefits thousands of others.
So, by forcing me to keep on paying for years to come on this defunct company, the judge is helping serve the greater good of society.
In other words he is an unsung patriot.
Dear readers, I shall over the next few days, God willing, be in Istanbul sipping apple-flavored tea by the blue Bosporus while a gentle summer breeze rustles the tree leaves above me and wafts through my sadly thinning hair far, far away from all these patriots who endeavor to make my life more...interesting.
