The Eastern Province municipality official who was handed 10 years in prison and a SR1 million fine for amassing millions in bribes was, in fact, the director of urban planning, confirmed Eastern Province Mayor Fahad Al-Jubair. The Eastern Province municipality had initially released conflicting reports on the defendant’s official designation.

The municipality had described him as “an employee working in the department,” while the mayor then confirmed that he occupied a more senior position.

The confusion has been criticized by many observers, who say that ambiguity on such a matter is unnecessary.

Other people blamed the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha) for the confusion because it had not officially disclosed the man’s occupation for fear of arousing speculation.

The mayor, meanwhile, has reiterated that speeding up the implementation of an e-governance system will curb violations for good.

Nazaha’s Eastern Province branch has said that they received more than 10,000 complaints from all over the Kingdom during the past year. The official had also been accused of forgery and breach of trust and the bribe money was retrieved from his bank accounts.

The official was sentenced after being found guilty by Nazaha.

A citizen had reportedly told Nazaha that the official had asked him for money in order to approve real estate schemes. An Egyptian engineer working at the municipality and a Saudi government retiree were also sentenced after being found to be complicit in the crimes.

The Egyptian expat was sentenced to one year in prison and handed a SR10,000 fine, while the Saudi was also sentenced to three months in prison and fined SR100,000.

The defendant’s brother and his business partner, who had been accused of using their private real estate office to launder illegal money, were acquitted for insufficient evidence.