Former deputy mayor of Jeddah, who has been accused of mistakes and wrongdoings during the devastating Jeddah floods earlier this year, sought the dismissal of case against him during a hearing at the Summary Court here Tuesday. He appeared before the court along with two of his lawyers and handed over his reply to the charges. The hearing was postponed for study. A statement issued by the defendant's lawyers sought the transfer of the case to the Administrative Court. “The accused has worked as a public servant and carried out tasks related to public administrative work. Therefore trying him as an employee and for charges relating to administrative work is out of the jurisdiction of the Summary Court,” read the statement. The former deputy mayor is accused of mistakes that led to devastations during the Jeddah floods that killed 120 people, injured 350 and caused damage to 119,60 private and public properties. In his statement to the court, ex-deputy mayor insisted that he did not intend to harm citizens. In a previous statement the accused admitted that he was “mistaken to request the mayor (at the time)” to allow citizens to carry out construction in the flood course. The statement that was attested by the court also stated that he asked the then mayor to allow people to build houses on their lands located in the flood course and suggested to build a drainage channel that would pass through the flood course basin in Um Al-khair District. This was a violation of Royal Orders that ban construction and ownership of land in valley beds. __
