After three hours of hearings at the third criminal division in Jeddah’s administrative court, the chief of the division referred a former official of the National Water Company, along with five other defendants, to the control and investigation board.
Saad Al-Maliki, chief of the third criminal division, said the case did not list heads of companies of which their employees were accused of bribing the NWC official.
Al-Maliki said it was important that the heads of these companies come to the court. He said that the bribes mentioned in the hearings, if proved, could not have been paid without their approval. They should be investigated and brought to court, he added.
The NWC official was accused of accepting bribes from companies that bid for projects. The defendant admitted earlier to accepting bribes, but later denied all charges saying his confession was obtained by force.
He claimed the sums of money which were transferred to his bank account from different companies were going to be used in launching awareness campaigns to rationalize water consumption.
He said the money transfers were known to his managers, and he had written them asking what to do with the remaining amount in his account, and was waiting for their directive.
Al-Maliki asked the defendant about a SR 225,000 car he received from another defendant. His response: It was received before he assumed the position and he paid for it from his own pocket, and his friend (another defendant) took care of its papers.
Al-Maliki confronted the defendant with flight tickets to some European and American cities provided by one of the companies. The defendant insisted that it was part of the contract, that the company was required to provide the tickets to make the necessary tests on samples supplied for approval for projects.
The second defendant denied he received a transfer of SR 200,000 in his bank account. His attorney then said that “the prosecution could easily collect information about the bank transactions before accusing my client.”
The third defendant also denied the charges against him, which were that he gave computers to the accused NWC official.
The fourth defendant, a project manager at one of the companies, also denied a payment of SR 100,000 to the NWC official. He said the amount was transferred by the company’s administration in Riyadh as its contribution to the awareness campaign.
The fifth defendant said the same.
