A Jeddah court has convicted the head of a travel agency for financial fraud and has issued a preliminary verdict of six months imprisonment. The court has also ordered the businessman to reimburse Umrah pilgrims SR6 million for not fulfilling a contract he signed with them, Al-Madina newspaper reported Tuesday without revealing the name of the agency. The accused man was supposed to provide return air transport for 4,650 Arab pilgrims. The draft ruling said the defendant had engaged in financial fraud by taking money from pilgrims and failing to provide the service or return the money. “This is an illegal act, which deserves punishment, particularly since it involves pilgrims whom we should take good care of,” the ruling said. Haj officials from the pilgrims' country said the businessman lied to the pilgrims saying he was the agent of an influential personality and that he would be able to overcome any difficulty to provide the service he promised. Investigations also revealed that the businessman had gotten away with a similar case of duping 1,041 African pilgrims two years ago. He charged them for air freight, but shipped their luggage by sea.
