Jeddah, Nov 29: Gold and jewelry shops that employ foreigners will be asked to pay a fine of Saudi Riyal 20,000 (around Rs 3.5 lakh) for each expat worker after Dec 3 when 100% Saudization of the sector comes into force.
The ministry also intends to appoint permanent inspectors in every market and mall to conduct surprise inspections and punish violators of the Saudization law.
Khaled Aba Al-Khail, spokesman of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, said field inspectors will track down violators and impose fines after the Dec. 3 deadline.
However, members of the precious metal and stone committee at the Council of Saudi Chambers have expressed their reservation over the success of Saudization in the sector.
“We need to fight tasattur or cover-up business to make Saudization successful,” said Abdul Mohsen Al-Namir, a member of the committee, referring to jewelry shops run by expats in the name of Saudis.
There are more than 6,000 gold and jewelry shops in the Kingdom that employ about 25,000 workers including expatriates. Some of them are owned by foreign investors.
“The success of Saudization depends on the success of fighting corruption. Many owners of gold and jewelry shops and showrooms are foreigners,” Al-Namir told Al-Madina Arabic newspaper.
“Many of the shops are in the name of Saudis but they are actually owned by expats. Some foreigners have entered into partnership business with Saudis,” he explained.
Al-Namir also spoke about the possibility of accommodating Saudis involved in tasattur business as investors.
He asked the ministry to study the reasons for the failure of Saudization and give shops enough time to deal with the reasons that have prevented 100 percent Saudization of the sector for the last 16 years.
“At present Saudization rate in the sector does not exceed 50 percent,” he pointed out.
Abdul Ghani Al-Muhanna, another member of the committee, expressed hope that the ministry’s full-scale Saudization will lead to saving the sector from tasattur (cover-up) business.
“The decline in the number of Saudi employees in the sector is really a matter of deep concern,” he said told Al-Madina newspaper.
He said expatriates were purposely trying to keep Saudis away from the sector to maintain their dominance.
Saudi employees in the sector are forced to work long hours affecting their social and family commitments, Al-Muhanna said.
“Many Saudis receive low salaries which has forced them to leave their jobs at gold and jewelry showrooms,” he pointed out.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
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Acche din for saudis.
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