Abdulrahman Al-Ali Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – A senior official from the Jeddah municipality and another government official were acquitted Tuesday by the Jeddah Administrative Court of giving and taking bribes. The first defendant was accused of taking a SR500,000 bribe from a well-known businessman, now dead, and SR1.5 million in addition to a house from the second defendant. The Prosecutor General accused the first defendant of taking the first bribe to facilitate the sale of a plot of land for the businessman and a second bribe to expedite the processing of some transactions for the other official's employer. The first defendant denied all charges and his lawyer said the accusations were based on assumption and not hard evidence. The lawyer told the court that a witness saw someone giving his client an envelope and assumed there was money inside. At this point, the first defendant said his confession was made under duress. Then his lawyer submitted medical reports to the court indicating that his client suffered several medical conditions and had to be admitted to hospital after investigations. The second defendant also denied all charges, saying that he did not file any applications in his name with the Jeddah municipality, let alone the department that the first defendant ran. He also questioned how he would be able to give the first defendant a SR3 million house as a kickback when he only owned a four-room apartment.
