A director at the Jeddah Health Affairs Department has been found guilty of accepting a bribe from an Arab nurse to renew her visa even after her services were terminated by the Ministry of Health in 2004.

The committee appointed to probe the nurse’s case, however, acquitted four other high-ranking officials in the case relating to the nurse staying in the Kingdom illegally for 10 years.

Makkah Gov. Prince Mishal bin Abdullah has since approved the recommendations of the committee.

The nurse, who was working in a hospital in Jeddah, refused to leave the Kingdom even after her contract was canceled 10 years ago. She continued to renew her visa under the pretext that she was still working.

The investigation committee, while acquitting the four officials referred the fifth official to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution on charges of accepting a bribe to renew the nurse’s visa.

The committee held one of the health directors culpable because he agreed to deport the nurse without taking the necessary procedures against her. The committee asked the director to use his authority in applying necessary penalties against him.

A directive was issued by the Makkah governorate to Jeddah health affairs to find a specific mechanism to follow up the deportation of retired expatriates so that cases like the nurse in question who stayed in the Kingdom illegally do not recur.