The Administrative Court on Sunday adjourned a bribery case in which nine individuals are accused of accepting bribes and abuse of power. The judge postponed the case involving government officials, real estate developers and a gas station owner until June 18 to look into new evidence and testimonies by the accused. In the previous sessions, the first accused, a government official in charge of solving problems facing projects, rejected the charges leveled against him and said he hadn't received any kickbacks. He told the court that the gas station owner, who was present in the court, came to him one day at his office and asked him to remove the concrete blocks from one of the entrances of the station because they disrupted traffic near the station. He inspected the site and decided that it was not his responsibility to remove the concrete blocks and he did not. “The blocks haven´t been removed to date. How come I´m still accused of taking a bribe for removing the blocks?” The first accused also denied any complicity in selling six plots of land granted by a royal decree to the second accused and said his duties did not have anything to do with such land grants. The third defendant was accused of paying bribes to buy plots of land that were also granted by a royal decree. The other defendants also denied bribery and abuse of power charges against them. __
