JEDDAH — The National Program for Combating the Commercial Concealment uncovered a case where a Saudi businessman was struggling to pay the rent for his apartment while his expatriate tasattur partner lived in a luxurious villa that he owned in the heart of Riyadh. It was also revealed that the expatriate also owned a house in Dubai and was leading luxurious life. The Saudi entered into a tasattur partnership with the expatriate allowing him to run a business on his own in the name of the former in return for a small monthly payment. The Saudi was in a bad financial condition as he worked in a very modest job. A source in the National Program cited this as an example of the outcome of the tasattur problem where the Saudi man is the victim while the expat partner is the one that benefits the most from the relationship. He said while this Saudi man was waiting for a response to a job application, he agreed with one of his expatriate friends to own a car repair shop under his name for a small amount of money every month. He opened the car repair shop and the expat partner began receiving huge amounts of money every month and started living a luxurious life. He became rich enough to buy his own villa in Riyadh, a penthouse in Dubai, an expensive car and a motorbike. The Saudi man, however, is facing a hard time while he is responsible in front of the law for this business. According to the provisions of Anti-Commercial Concealment Law, a non-Saudi shall not operate or invest in any trade activity he is not licensed to practice. Any citizen who enables the non-Saudi to invest or practice any trade activity, whether by using the citizen›s name, license, commercial registration or in any other way, will be considered a concealer. The Ministry of Commerce and Investment is endeavoring to control and eradicate any violations related to commercial cover-up, by imposing the legal penalties that include two-year imprisonment, a fine of SR1 million, deportation of non-Saudis and defaming the violators in the local newspapers.
