By Abdul Rahman Al-Ali
Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – The director of a key department at the Jeddah Mayoralty recently stood trial at the Administrative Court of the Bureau of Grievances. He was charged with abuse of official power. The man was accused of helping one of his relatives, who owns a contracting company, to clinch a number of procurement contracts from the mayoralty.
The official was also accused of regularly helping an Arab national who did not own a business license to import goods from a foreign country. The Arab national allegedly worked as the personal driver of the official’s brother.
When the public prosecutor read out the charges in court, the official told the judge that he did not do act illegally to help his relative win the contracts. He claimed that he was acting on the instructions of his superior who informed him that his brother’s company quoted the lowest prices to procure goods specified in the contracts for the mayoralty. He said he personally confirmed that his relative’s company was the lowest bidder while other companies quoted much higher prices.
The public prosecutor told the court that the official knew very well that his relative’s company did not deal in goods specified in the contracts, yet he asked his relative to submit quotations which were lower than prices quoted by specialized companies. The prosecutor argued that the official’s actions thus violated the regulations governing the awarding of tenders.
After recording statements made by the official’s relative and his driver, the judge adjourned the case until next week to allow time for gathering further evidence.