Saudi: Jeddah Court Revokes Fines Worth SR 6.3 Million Slapped on Businesswoman for Municipal Violations
The Administrative Court at the Board of Grievances in Jeddah issued a ruling that revoked two violations, which involved fines worth SR6.3 million, imposed by the Jeddah Mayoralty, on a Saudi woman investor.
The court ruled that three violations worth SR 500,000 in fines would be sustained against the businesswoman. The Administrative Appeals Court has upheld the verdict of the Administrative Court, saying that the lower court ruling was binding and final.
Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learnt from sources that the Saudi businesswoman, who secured an investment project through a contract concluded with the mayoralty, was surprised when she was imposed five multiple financial fines by the mayoralty. The fines amounted to a total of SR6.8 million. Subsequently, she approached the Administrative Court requesting the cancellation of the fines.
The investor said in her lawsuit that she had an investment contract to rent a project for a dumping station for damaged and abandoned vehicles, equipment, and chassis. The businesswoman was caught unaware when she received from the mayoralty’s supervising administration that five violations had been registered against her, including the lack of asphalt and lighting on the site, improper repair, and ramming the yard with vehicles.
The businesswoman submitted copies of the contract to the court, with regard to the alleged violation charges. She pointed out that the mayoralty violated the procedures for imposing penalties and violations in accordance with the provisions of the contract concluded with her, saying that the contract stipulates that there should be step-by-step punitive measures such as notification and then serving warning notice before imposing penalties.
The investor explained that the violations slapped on her accounted for five violations, and that the fifth violation was unknown and did not contain any details and its value amounted to SR6 million.
The court asked the representative of the mayoralty to respond to the lawsuit, and the representative submitted a response memorandum adhering to the integrity and regularity of the procedures taken. The representative also submitted to the court a number of notes explaining the violations and fines that were monitored while implementing the project and concluded with the request to issue a ruling rejecting her lawsuit.
After reviewing the nature of the contractual relationship and the investment contract between the two parties, the court concluded that three violations were established against the investor. With regard to the fifth violation, the court ruled that the violation was cancelled based on the terms of the contract since the violation was not proven and that it occurred after the end of the contract period between the investor and the mayoralty.
