Riyadh Newspaper I HAVE written about the involvement of small and medium-sized establishments in cover-up businesses many times. These establishments are not limited to retail businesses but also include car repair, plumbing and electrical shops. I am writing about the subject again because the Minister of National Economy and Planning Muhammad Al-Jasser criticized small and medium-sized business establishments recently and accused them of illegally giving work to expatriates. Al-Jasser said such establishments are not doing anything to solve the unemployment problem and urged them to change their tactics and employ Saudis. If one wants to see an example of cover-up businesses operating openly, then pay a visit to Jeddah's Al-Shati market located south of Prince Sultan palace. This market contains more than 300 shops that sell everything from rugs to household cleaning products. One can find everything in the market except Saudi workers. In the past, many shops had a Saudi at the cash register while expatriates served customers. Now, there is no sign of Saudi employees anywhere in the market and this shows that real ownership has shifted from Saudis to non-Saudis. Al-Jasser suggested that all such shops be brought under one big company but I don't think such an arrangement will work because the Saudi owners of such establishments benefit from the current system too much. Only charging a certain amount of money every month, many Saudis let expatriates run businesses under their names and the expats not only enjoy the protection of the Saudi owner but are free to hire whoever they want and conduct the business in any way they please. Such practices will continue unless the responsible authorities take concrete steps to ensure expatriates can no longer run cover-up businesses. __
