Strange things at the municipality

Abdullah Khayat IT is unfortunate that an organization that is named Amana (trust) is run by corrupt and untrustworthy officials who cheat the public. The Jeddah Municipality’s administration was charged with stealing checks worth SR6 million. If this is the situation of the Amana, what will be the condition of other departments. Al-Hayat Arabic daily published a report a couple of weeks ago saying Jeddah police were investigating the theft of six checks from the municipality. The checks were issued by an unidentified person with forged signatures. Police have authorized the forgery inspection squad to find out how the checks with forged signatures were issued. Each check was valued at SR1 million. The Jeddah governorate has instructed the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency to provide the police with the forged checks and the documents for operating the municipality’s account to provide technical support to the investigators. The questions that arise here include from which department the checks were stolen, who was responsible for it, who was keeping the checkbooks and who was authorized to sign the checks issued by the municipality. The theft of checks from an official department is a serious matter. The Makkah daily had published another strange report. It said the municipality warned that it would impose a fine of SR500 on shops selling loose cigarettes. It has set up an official team to fight smoking after Saudis and expatriates with limited income started purchasing loose cigarettes to get around the move to double tobacco prices. Mohammed Al-Baqami, spokesman of the municipality, said selling cigarettes in this way was a punishable offense. I would understand if the mayoralty fined people who smoke in public places such as malls and in front of mosques, but not on shops selling loose cigarettes. When are they going to impose fines on those who buy full packets of cigarettes?