By Adnan Al-Shabrawi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The Court of Appeals in Makkah has upheld a ruling issued by the Criminal Court in Jeddah acquitting a passport officer, who was charged with receiving a bribe to allow an Asian expatriate to enter the Kingdom after the expiry of his residency visa.

The official was accused of fingerprinting the expatriate and allowing him entry even though data in the passport system clearly showed that the man failed to return to the Kingdom within the time stipulated in his visa.

The Criminal Court held 12 hearings in the case over a period of eight months. It listened to the passport officer, whom the public prosecutor accused of either accepting a bribe or giving in to requests by middlemen to fingerprint the expatriate.

The prosecutor said the official had violated the immigration regulations and therefore should be punished according to the law.

The official, who attended the sessions with his lawyer, admitted that he had enabled the expatriate to re-enter the Kingdom by fingerprinting him but denied having received a bribe or responding to requests by anyone.

He said it was not his duty to fingerprint expatriates but he did not have sufficient knowledge of the regulations.

The three judges presiding over the case agreed that the officer did not have enough experience and acquitted him of the bribery charge.

They said he did not have any direct motive in fingerprinting the expatriate, whom he did not know earlier.