JEDDAH — Authorities have retrieved plots of 111 public parks from a total of 500 parks occupied by businessmen and realtors who had made them part of palaces and villas west of Jeddah. The Court of Grievances in Riyadh had looked into the case involving occupation of the plots of 500 public parks and passed it to the Court of Grievances in Jeddah. Affected citizens had filed 33 cases against occupiers through 30 lawyers and the court issued its orders to vacate 111 plots, Al-Watan Arabic daily reported on Tuesday. The verdict came after authorities urged the court in Riyadh to study the real estate scam involving businessmen and real estate agents. The case was presented to the Riyadh court seven months ago by a group of lawyers. Al-Watan had previously reported that the commercial court in Jeddah would look into the case. "Some individuals had colluded with businessmen to register the land of these public parks as part of palaces and villas," an informed source told the Arabic newspaper. The paper said some businessmen and realtors added those plots to their property and sold them to individuals. A similar land grab case has surfaced in a district north of Jeddah, Al-Watan said. The land was originally allocated to establish a park. Later some well-known businessmen occupied the land and made it part of their property, the paper reported quoting the source. "The land grab occurred with the support of some department employees who helped them to prepare the field sketch," the source said. This scam involves occupation of thousands of meters of public land where individuals have now constructed palaces and villas, the paper said. Lawyer Khaled Al-Mahmadi said these land thefts occurred due to the absence of stringent monitoring by relevant authorities such as mayoralties and municipalities. "If an individual is found occupying public land allocated for a specific purpose he/she should be punished in accordance with the law," the lawyer said. The Control and Investigation Board or the General Auditing Authority was supposed to monitor the activities of municipalities in this respect. He described the move by a group of businessmen to occupy public lands allocated for public parks and add them to their property as a misuse of power and influence. The Control and Investigation Board must launch an investigation into such cases that come under administrative and financial scam, Al-Mahmadi said, adding that the criminal bench of the Court of Grievances would look into such cases. Charges such as corruption, bribery, misuse of power and forgery face people involved in land thefts," the lawyer explained.
