Prince Mite'b Bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, reinstated on Tuesday an official from the Mayor's Office who had been detained during investigations into the Jeddah flood disaster, Al-Watan Arabic daily reported Wednesday. The unnamed official, who was taken into custody by the Investigation Committee set up to identify persons responsible for the loss of life and damage caused in the wake of the November 2009 floods, will return to his post as head of a branch municipality in the south of the Makkah province after “no evidence was found of his involvement in flood cases or in another case in which he had been a suspect”. Al-Watan, citing informed sources, said that the official was absolved of guilt on Tuesday before the minister after having been one of the 14 mayoralty officials detained by the Investigation Committee “over a previous financial case at the municipality in question”. Prince Mite'b's move followed reports from his ministry's General Department of Administrative Monitoring and the Commission for Investigation and Prosecution (CIP), both of which absolved the official. Adel Fakeih, Mayor of Jeddah, was scheduled to meet with the official, along with deputy mayor Khaled Uqail in his capacity as supervisor of the mayoralty's branch municipalities. Al-Watan also reported that persons held over the Jeddah flood investigation have begun hiring well-known lawyers to defend them and signed contracts involving “huge sums of money” should they be found innocent. Legal experts said that the lawyers would have the right to be present at various stages of the investigation conducted by the CIP and the Control and Investigation Board and represent their clients before the Administrative Court once they have been provided with the list of charges.
