Almost every day we read about authorities imposing fines on a fuel station for mixing a kind of red liquid or water with petrol or closing a restaurant for not fulfilling hygiene requirements. We also read reports of expatriate workers engaged in commercial fraud, such as pasting false labels on products, altering the manufacturing date and operating tasattur (owning and running a business registered in the name of a Saudi). We also read about expatriates stealing telecom cables and officials taking action against firms that do not fulfill Saudization requirements. Every day we hear about these reports but the astonishing thing is individuals and firms repeat the same offenses not only at fuel stations and restaurants but almost everywhere. The question is what must be done to prevent individuals and firms from repeating a certain offense. Unfortunately, the existing punishments are not strong enough to prevent violators from repeating an offense. In fact, punishments are meant to bring down crimes and offenses to the minimum. Even after reading reports of frequent punishments, people return to the same offenses again and again because the punishment is not strong enough to serve as a deterrent. This is happening because people think the fine would not exceed a specific amount or the closure of shop would not last more than a few days. In my opinion, the failure by the authorities to impose stiff punishment is the main reason for the repetition of violations and offenses. The municipality, and the commerce ministry and labor ministries should revise the punishments related to offenses in the private sector. The punishment imposed on the violator should be increased gradually when the same offense is repeated for a second or third time. The punishment for third-time violator should be either closure or defamation of the business and deportation of expatriate workers without allowing them to come back. The punishment should be different considering the type of violation and offense. Mixing water with petrol should not be considered equal to tasattur or putting fake labels on products. We have to toughen punishments as it appears that they do not serve as deterrence. The punishment for one violation should prevent 1,000 others from committing the same offense. Imagine a restaurant is found supplying contaminated food. The third time the fine imposed on the restaurant should be raised to SR500,000, closure for a month and deportation of all foreign workers. Such a punishment will send a strong signal to the remaining workers in the sector. This way we can avoid punishing or monitoring other workers and firms. If we impose a strong punishment on a single firm or shop, it would serve as a deterrent for all other firms. The revision of punishment is essential to cleanse the market and prevent people and firms from repeating their offenses. This can be guaranteed only by imposing stringent punishments.
