The case of 700 Pakistanis “stranded” in Riyadh has assumed added significance with President Asif Ali Zardari asking authorities to submit a report on the case within three days.
A high-level source told Arab News that the case did not pertain to only Pakistani nationals and was more complex than what it initially appeared.
“Nearly 1,400 employees of the Riyadh-based Turkish firm MAAPA Construction and Trade Company have been affected,” said the source. “They include Egyptians, Syrians, Indians and Bangladeshis.”
Arab News first reported on Tuesday that hundreds of expatriates were swindled out of their life savings when they were issued fraudulent visas. They arrived in Saudi Arabia at the end of 2011 to work and were unable to return home.
The case involves various government agencies, departments and labour courts in Saudi Arabia, and its resolution requires high-level intervention, according to sources close to the case.
The issue of the “stranded” Pakistanis was first brought to the attention of the Pakistani ambassador in Riyadh three weeks ago during one of the many open houses that the embassy conducts weekly for its nationals.
According to one community representative, the embassy immediately took up the issue with the company’s senior management and realised that the case was nearly a year old and still under investigation. A Syrian national and employees working in the Turkish company’s human resources development department were found to have been responsible for illegally procuring visas through online manipulation.
The company immediately informed authorities and lodged a formal complaint with the local police. The Syrian national and his alleged accomplices were arrested. The Syrian is still behind bars awaiting judgement. Since the case involved 1,400 illegal visas, the local governorate formed a committee to investigate the scam. A number of government agencies and departments, including the Police and the Labour Department, were asked to assist in the investigation. The committee has not yet submitted its report.
Since the case is still under investigation, all affected employees were barred from leaving the country. “They can neither get an exit/re-entry visa nor a final exit,” said the source. “They cannot even get their residency permits (iqamas) transferred to a different company.”
The affected employees did not care to report the matter to their missions for one full year. They had received their one-year validity iqamas from the Turkish company and they were more than happy to work for different companies.
According to the source, the employees started panicking and raising a storm when they realised that their iqamas were nearing expiration. “They did not raise a voice earlier because it suited them,” said one source. “Only when they found that they were soon going to be illegal in the Kingdom in the absence of a valid iqama did they cry foul.”
