The trial of four people, including a former senior Jeddah Mayoralty official, who all face charges related to last year's flood disaster, resumes in the Jeddah Administrative Court on Dec. 19. Informed sources said that the 13th Circuit of the Administrative Court will look into the charges leveled against each of the accused. The charges, which include taking bribes of over SR6 million, abuse of power, forgery and squandering of public money, were submitted to the court by the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution (BIP). The former senior engineer at the Jeddah Mayoralty was accused of taking bribes from contractors appointed to carry out rain and flood drainage projects in Umm Al-Khair District, east Jeddah. The second individual, a Syrian investor, was accused of giving the senior engineer SR150,000 as a bribe to issue him a license to pump ground water. The third individual, a Jordanian engineer working for a contracting company, was accused of giving the senior engineer SR60,000 as a kickback for awarding a ground water project to the contracting company. The fourth individual, who is also a Jordanian, was accused of giving SR200,000 as a kickback to the senior engineer for not suspending the work of the project until the concrete test results were completed and for not delaying the payment certificates. Three of the accused have already submitted their defense statements to the court. The lawyer of the fourth individual previously submitted documents including copies of checks which he said were proof that his client was innocent. The lawyer even requested the court summon all the persons, who signed the contracts for the rainwater and flood drainage projects, to give their testimonies before the court. Meanwhile, the Jeddah General Appeal Court will look into the verdict issued by the Jeddah District Court which dismissed the case against a former senior Jeddah Mayoralty official because it did not have jurisdiction over the matter. The Jeddah Administrative Court will look into several other cases, including the case of a former Jeddah deputy mayor who was charged with killing innocent people and damaging public property. __
