Abdurahman Al-Ali Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – The Jeddah General Court is set to wind up the trial proceedings of the drug smuggling case involving Egyptian lawyer Ahmed Al-Jizawi on Wednesday, and defer it for judgment. The presiding judge Sheikh Bassam Al-Nijaidi said that the verdict would be delivered at a later date after Wednesday. Sheikh Bassam asked the public prosecutors and defense lawyers whether they had anything more to add, and to which their replies were in the negative. The judge said that the court would listen to any observations that both parties want to make before the completion of the trial proceedings. Al-Jizawi and two other defendants — one Saudi and another Egyptian — were accused of smuggling prohibited narcotic pills into the Kingdom. In the course of the trial, the second defendant, an Egyptian, admitted that the third defendant, a Saudi, is innocent of any charges of drug smuggling, and that he wrongly implicated his former employer in the case to settle scores. Notary public in a fix over title deeds A notary public, accused with 12 other people of involvement in forging four title deeds for plots of land, whose area exceeds 1.6 million sq. m, retracted his earlier confessions given during investigations. The deeds were for plots in Jabal Khandamah, in Ja'ranah, southern Jeddah and Madrakah, which he reportedly facilitated for a fee. His contentions are being challenged by his co-accused. The notary public had, during investigations, said he and a court clerk working with him had shared the bribe equally. He added that he had directed the court clerk via telephone to speed up the issuance of the deeds — concerned with the case — despite being on his annual vacation. He justified his actions by saying that the transaction had already been processed and his presence was not required so as to hand over the title deeds to their owner. During the session the Administrative Court held in Jeddah on Monday, the judge asked the notary public if the parties to the title deeds were present in his office during the completion of the transfer of ownership. The notary public said that in his entire career he had never transferred ownership of title deeds without the parties present. On Monday, 10 defendants out of 12 attended the court session presided over by judge Sheikh Dr. Saad Al-Malki. Among the defendants was the court clerk working under the notary public, employees of the General Court and Notary Public Office in Makkah, a businessman and a real estate middleman. The Control and Investigation Board framed charges against these people for their involvement in the issuance of the four title deeds for plots of land in Makkah. First the court clerk appeared before the judge and he denied the assertions of four witnesses, who were his colleagues, that he had received bribes for issuing illegal title deeds. He replied by denying any knowledge of the title deeds. As to the statement of the notary public that the court clerk came to him for the issuance of forged title deeds, the clerk stressed the notary public was not telling the truth. He denied the statement in front of the notary public. He had said earlier that he received SR800,000 and divided it equally with the notary public. The fifth defendant (the businessman) was accused of giving a bribe for the title deeds for plots of land he claimed to own without possessing legal papers in Jabal Khandamah. The plot covered an area of 91,000 sq. m and was priced at SR90 million. He said a man came to him and told him he could get a title deed issued for plots of land belonging to the businessman's father. He asked for half the land as a fee and the businessman agreed. The judge expressed doubts about the deal and said the offer of half of the land as a fee begged belief.
