The Control and Investigation Board (CIB) has rejected the denial of confessions and testimonies by those accused in the first Jeddah flood disaster. The suspects claimed that the statements were extorted from them under pressure and duress. The CIB said: “The reason for this is evasion from criminal responsibility and their claims are nullified by the interlinked confessions, which have been attested in the Shariah Court.” It added that the confessions were in agreement with the input from suspects that include a former official in the Administration for Supervision of Rain and Floodwater Drainage Projects in Jeddah Mayoralty and three Arab engineers working in contracting companies. In his reply memorandum, the Prosecutor General in the CIB told the Board of Grievances that the suspects' statements were given out of their own free will. “The contracting companies had carried out the projects incorrectly. Also, their statements gave a precise description of what they had actually done. The statements were attested in Jeddah Court,” he said, according to a report in Al-Watan newspaper. The Prosecutor General also said the statements are refuted by the records for handing over the floodwater drainage projects as well as the minutes for the face-to-face confrontation between them. The CIB has now demanded that four suspects be put on trial according to the Bribery, Anti-corruption and Anti-forgery regulations. Meanwhile, the court judge has discussed with the suspects and the Prosecutor General the different charges and their documents. A source said: “The judge separated the papers for each suspect according to the charges against him before the Judicial Circuit decided that the case be re-investigated. The Circuit said its decision to re-investigate the case was due to insufficient evidences.” In another development, the Administrative Court in Jeddah is preparing to receive two new dossiers for a former leading official and an employee in Jeddah Mayoralty.
