Officers who refused bribe offer honored

Two honest inspectors, who refused to accept large sums of money in the form of bribes, on Sunday were honored by Minister of Commerce and Industry (MCI) Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, while those who offered the bribes were in custody in Madinah and Al-Jouf.
According to an official from the MCI, those offering the bribes were found violating Commercial Fraud and Concealment regulations of the country by offering the inspectors handsome cash amounts to overlook their offenses.
The first suspect who offered the bribe was an expatriate businessman who was running a warehouse in Shouran District in Madinah, where he stored 97,000 items of cosmetics, skin cream and electrical devices. The suspect admitted his guilt to the inspectors and had offered the bribe to overlook the charges against him.
The second was also an expatriate selling housewares and furniture items in Dawmat Al Jandal Province in Al Jouf region. During the preliminary investigations, the suspect admitted his guilt and requested that the government official clear his case upon payment of a large sum of money.
If found guilty, the violators are subject to a maximum of two years imprisonment and a SR1 million fine. The commercial license of the party could be suspended for five years and the convicted expatriates will be deported after finishing their jail terms.
Describing it as a violation under the Anti-Commercial Concealment Law, the authorities have referred the two cases to the Bureau of Investigations and Public Prosecution Authority, and subsequently to the Bureau of Grievances to issue a final judgment in this case.
According to the Anti-Commercial Concealment System, every Saudi citizen or a foreign investor, who enables a non-Saudi of doing business for his own account, would be considered a violator, whether through using a trade name, license or commercial registration or any other way.
The first article of the Anti-Commercial Concealment System states that it is not permissible for a non-Saudi, in all cases, to exercise or invest in any activity, if he is not authorized to exercise or invest under the Foreign Investment Law or other systems, regulations and decrees.
MCI would like to emphasize its warning to all companies, institutions and individuals to avoid cooperating with the violators of the systems and laws in the Kingdom. Otherwise, they will be accountable to legal and statutory penalties.
The MCI aims to reduce the phenomenon of commercial concealment and strives to create a regular and free of irregularities trading environment to enable the citizens to do business safely.
It also urged citizens to report cases of commercial concealment with substantial proof, as the ministry grants a financial reward to the informant who reports commercial concealment, with an amount not exceeding 30 percent of the value of the fines collected.