A total of 57 tourism companies have filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor against the Ministry of Tourism and the Higher Committee for Hajj and Umrah, seeking to oblige them to announce the names of the violating companies involved in issuing electronic Umrah visas before the ministry implemented the Administrative Court ruling halting payment of the repeat-Umrah fees and scrapping the visa cap, which began to be implemented yesterday. They demanded administrative penalties and a criminal investigation of the violators.
Ehab Abdel Aal, a former board member of the Chamber of Tourism Companies and Travel Agents, a member of its General Assembly and the legal representative of the group of companies that filed the complaint, said there are facts confirming the squandering of public funds resulting from the application of the electronic visa by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which allowed companies to deal with Umrah visas directly with the Saudi consulate, bypassing the Ministry of Tourism. This cost the state more than 50 million pounds in repeat-Umrah fees, in addition to the flight of foreign currency of no less than 80 million Saudi riyals, equivalent to 400 million pounds, out of the country.
In the complaint, No. 7500 of the Public Prosecutor's Office petitions, dated May 27, Abdel Aal revealed the damage inflicted on the national economy and on companies by capping the number of Umrah pilgrims at 500,000 a year, which also harmed Egyptian citizens. He called for the Ministry of Tourism, represented by the Minister of Tourism, to be obliged to submit official lists showing the names of the violating tourism companies, so that the investigating authorities, particularly the Public Funds Prosecution, can do their work, since the money lost to the state is public money. He noted that some companies are still abiding by the regulations.
Abdel Aal stressed the need to punish the companies that violated the regulations and for the ministry to play its role in applying administrative penalties, which can go as far as revoking companies' licenses under the governing law, as well as the need for the Public Prosecution to investigate both the administrative body, represented by the Ministry of Tourism, and the Higher Committee for Hajj and Umrah, to establish the facts and the extent of their knowledge of the date the decision was issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially as more than 80,000 visas were issued, and the material and moral damage suffered by no less than 90% of tourism companies.
He also demanded that the chairman of the Chamber of Tourism Companies appear to give his testimony on the incident and on the action the chamber took against the violating companies, in light of the board meeting held on May 4 of this month and the recommendations it issued to suspend and revoke the licenses of companies violating the Umrah regulations.
Abdel Aal revealed in the complaint that within a few days of the launch of the electronic visa system, some companies exceeded the number of visas allowed under each company's quota, even though, until the complaint was filed, the Ministry of Tourism had not implemented the Administrative Court ruling issued at its session of last March 23. These companies issued visas directly with the Saudi authorities, disregarding the Ministry of Tourism's regulations and conditions, which are still in force to date, and these visas reached about 80,000 for the month of Ramadan alone, according to preliminary data released by the Chamber of Tourism Companies.
He said the crisis lies in the timing of the decision and its activation: "We are not opposed to the electronic visa, but to the sudden decision and the lack of coordination; there is an absence of coordination between the Ministry of Tourism and the Saudi Ministry of Hajj." He explained that the violating companies committed acts constituting criminal offenses punishable under the Penal Code, and that there is also a suspected crime of squandering public funds, since while all companies were committed to paying fees equivalent to 2,000 Saudi riyals, after the electronic visa system was applied, state funds of no less than 50 million pounds were wasted.
In the complaint, he revealed the existence of a crime of tax evasion, as at the end of the season the Ministry of Tourism notifies the tax authority of each company's business volume based on the number of visas granted to it. In the case at hand, the Ministry of Tourism has no knowledge of the business volume of the companies that used the electronic visa system, having lost control and oversight over them, in addition to the crime of harming public funds, since 90% of tourism companies are Egyptian joint-stock companies whose funds are considered public funds that may not be infringed upon.
In the complaint, he pointed to the violating companies' circumvention of the law. Under the Ministry of Tourism's regulations and conditions, the standard practice is for a tourism company to collect 260 pounds from each Umrah pilgrim for the Hajj and Umrah Fund at the Chamber of Tourism Companies and Travel Agents, as a basic condition before obtaining the visa, so that the company can upload the fee payment receipt to the ministry's official website before obtaining the visa. What actually happened, however, is that after obtaining the electronic visa, the violating companies served the chamber an official notice through a court bailiff for the value of the Hajj and Umrah Fund fees, so the chamber is barred from receiving these amounts, as no law or instructions allow it to do so. In addition, part of this amount is allocated to insuring the pilgrim, meaning that in the event of an accident involving a pilgrim, payment will be made from the state budget, which exposes the state's general budget to serious harm.
He affirmed the existence of another crime, namely the smuggling of Egyptian currency: according to preliminary data released by the Chamber of Tourism Companies, these visas reached about 80,000 for the month of Ramadan alone, and calculating the average value of services provided in Saudi Arabia (1,000 riyals), the figure reaches about 80 million riyals, equivalent to 400 million pounds, "and we may ask how this amount was smuggled out." There are also violating companies that committed acts constituting an administrative violation requiring the suspension and revocation of their licenses.
Abdel Aal said there is a major crisis threatening the work of more than 2,500 companies operating in religious tourism because of the new system set by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj to regulate Umrah. A large number of Umrah pilgrims have also withdrawn their passports from tourism companies after the emergence of a number of companies working with electronic Umrah visas at prices lower than the programs of companies abiding by the Umrah regulations, as a result of general confusion in the market and the visa price reaching 2,000 pounds.
He stressed that the Ministry of Tourism and the Chamber of Tourism Companies have certain knowledge of all the violating companies and of the database of names of Umrah pilgrims who were issued visas in violation of the regulations, yet no action has been taken by the Ministry of Tourism. As for the Chamber of Tourism Companies, when a company is proven to have violated the regulations and instructions governing work in the tourism sector, it has the right to issue a recommendation by official letter to revoke the license in accordance with the law, and also to strike off the membership of companies that harm the tourism sector.
Abdel Aal said: "I am not suing the Ministry of Tourism directly, but it is required to announce the names of the violating companies and the real numbers of Umrah pilgrims outside the Umrah regulations." The Higher Committee was included in the complaint because it is the body that received the mandate to manage the Hajj and Umrah file, and suspicions also surround some committee members over issuing visas outside the umbrella of tourism, according to the Chamber of Tourism Companies' statement to the Ministry of Tourism.
