In this Asharq Alawsat column, Saudi journalist Hussein Shobokshi sees King Abdullah’s ordered investigation into the causes of the Jeddah floods to be the opening round of a nationwide effort to stop corruption. He, and other Saudis, will know far better than I about the level and sorts of corruption involved, but it is certainly the topic of the day.

In Order Not To Throw Away a Historical Opportunity
Hussein Shobokshi

The date of 25 November will remain engraved in the minds and memories of the Saudi people for a long time to come. This was the day that King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz initiated a project to fight corruption. This project is one of the by-products of the disastrous Jeddah floods that claimed the lives of more than one hundred people, destroyed homes and cars, and threatened the city’s giant sewage lake (the dams of which may collapse and cause another disaster for the people of Jeddah). The public rejoiced at the statement issued by King Abdullah, and they consider this to be a bold and historic position. They believe this to be an unprecedented step towards putting an end to administrative violations in their cities, specifically by putting an end to the corruption that was revealed in the sewage system in Jeddah, as well as accountability for those officials responsible for this disaster.

Jeddah paid a heavy price for such negligence, disregard, and corruption. Due to its sewage problem, Jeddah is ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the world, and it has witnessed a 40 percent increase of certain types of cancer compared to other areas in Saudi Arabia, as well as increased incidents of inflammatory diseases, hepatitis, and allergies. This is not to mention the destruction of some buildings, and cracks appearing in others due to the contamination of the ground-water. This was all the result of corruption in the execution of the sewage network project. This project was carried out without proper supervision, and implemented without proper checks.

The investigation into corruption in Jeddah has begun, and everybody must cooperate with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, in order to reveal what is hidden and bring to light the problems that the city suffers from that have never been addressed.
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Arab News reports that corrupt officials, in matters unrelated to the flooding, have been sentenced by Jeddah courts. I note that the report follows the Saudi penchant for not publishing the names of those convicted. While I understand the argument that the shame of having their names published would spread to their families, I think there’s a better argument that making use of the honor/shame culture’s tools would serve to decrease corruption.

Court fines corrupt officials SR3.83m

JEDDAH: The Court of Grievances has fined officials convicted of taking bribes a total of SR2.31 million. It also fined people involved in forgery a total of SR1.52 million during a three-month period this year.

Abdul Aziz Al-Qaeeb, director of the research department at the Control and Investigation Bureau (CIB), said 43 officials were fined a total of SR145,500 for exploiting their influence and 14 officials SR94,730 in total for misusing their power.

He said the bureau had transferred 748 cases to the Court of Grievances during the period of June 24-Sept. 20 this year.

“The Administrative Court at the Court of Grievances has already handed out punishments to the culprits including imprisonment and fines,” he said, adding that there were 573 cases related to forgery, 73 cases of bribe-taking, 14 cases relating to the misuse of authority and 43 of exploitation of influence.
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In another piece about the flooding, the paper translates an article from the Arabic daily Al-Watan in which the writer suggests that those found guilty of corruption should also be forced to pay the damages resulting from the floods… out of their own pockets.

Make culprits pay damages
Qenan Al-Ghamdi | Al-Watan

THERE are four or five wadis (valleys) in Jeddah which, in the event of rain, carry water, sometimes in torrents, down to the sea. Some of these valleys were turned into residential areas at different times in the past.

The plots of land were acquired by con men in one way or another; the con men legally owned the land and had the proper documents signed and stamped by the required judges. Then they obtained licenses, which bore the stamps and signatures of the relevant officials in the municipality. The con men then sold the plots to citizens who got construction licenses from the municipality.

The citizens then built houses which were duly connected to all the required services — electricity, water, telephone — and they lived in the houses. Then the disaster happened. The floods came and made it clear through death and destruction that they would not allow houses, cars or human beings to block their passage to the sea.

The floods took no notice of the legal documents and the official signatures on the documents.
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Saudi Gazette notes that the investigatory commission is making use of newspaper archives to see what writers—and readers who wrote back to the papers—have said about Jeddah’s infrastructure’s failings. It is considering opening an on-line portal through which citizens could make suggestions for improvements. I’ll be curious to see how that works!

Fact-finding panel using press opinion as resource

Meanwhile, the Easter Province is getting nervous about three days of rain, according to Arab News. Local flooding is causing problems, but so far it’s only problems, not catastrophes.

Rain wreaks havoc in EP cities