RIYADH – The Ministry of Labor has granted recruitment licenses to three businessmen in clear violation of its own bylaw for recruitment companies, Al-Watan newspaper reported on Saturday. The paper said the conditions stipulated in the bylaw did not apply to the three businessmen. Al-Watan said it learned from an informed source in the ministry that the three businessmen were not part of the recruitment sector and did not hold licenses for running any recruitment business previously. The report said there are 28 licensed recruitment companies currently operating in the market and granting new licenses is a clear violation of Articles 6 and 8 of the bylaw for recruitment companies. Director of the Information Center in the Ministry of Labor Tayseer Al-Mufarrij justified the granting of new licenses on the basis of Paragraph Four of Article 8 that states: “If the establishment of at least five companies is not complete during the period mentioned in Paragraph 2 of Article 8, then the application for the establishment of recruitment companies is open to recruitment offices and others.” The information center's reply confirms the violation, as the condition mentioned in the article has been fulfilled through the existence of 28 licenses. Al-Mufarrij explained this in his reply on the number of licenses issued by the ministry to recruitment companies. He said: “Implementation of the recruitment companies bylaw, organizing of workers' recruitment for others and providing labor services began in July 2011. Since that date the number of final licenses issued by the ministry to recruitment companies to practice the activity reached 19. This is apart from other companies that obtained preliminary licenses.”
