Haj pilgrims caught by Al Ain tour firm fraud

Ramona Ruiz

• Last Updated: November 17. 2009 11:41PM UAE / November 17. 2009 7:41PM GMT

Several groups of pilgrims have been forced to cancel their travel plans after staff at an Al Ain company that arranges Haj tours fled the country, Indonesian embassy officials said.

Sixty-four Indonesians pilgrims, who were due to leave the UAE tomorrow, paid a total of Dh914,800 (US$249,000) for a Haj package that included transport, hotel accommodation and other expenses.

Of those who were defrauded, 57 were living in in Ruwais, six in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi.

The Haj tour company’s general manager, identified as AIA, is believed to be in Jordan. The name of the company, its owner and staff members cannot be disclosed because legal proceedings are active.

Hannan Hadi, the head of the consular section at the Indonesian embassy, said it would provide a lawyer to represent the group in Al Ain civil court.

One of the pilgrims, Heri Susyanto, 43, who works in Ruwais, said the group was surprised by the turn of events.

“For the past four years, the community has been using [AIA’s] services to perform Umrah and we were happy with his services,” he said.

Travellers made a 50 per cent down payment at the end of June. By July, they submitted their passport copies to obtain security passes from the Saudi embassy. The Haj package was fully paid by early September.

On September 8, the pilgrims discovered that the company’s office in Al Ain had closed. They tried unsuccessfully to reach the operations manager.

“We tried to contact him many times but we could not reach him on his mobile phone,” Mr Susyanto said. “So we tried to go to the office and learnt that he had left the country.”

The group has filed a complaint with Al Ain Police against the Jordanian operations manager.

“We found out from the police that a lot of people had filed a similar complaint against him,” Mr Susyanto said.

Mr Hadi of the Indonesian embassy said that if the suspect is in Jordan, it will be difficult to extradite him, but he suggested that those who were defrauded should sue.

“The three couples in Dubai had already opened a file in the civil courts but we encouraged the rest to do the same,” he said.

Zulkarnain, 41, and his wife were among the six pilgrims from Dubai. “We wanted to perform Haj this year but it is not possible,” he said. “We want our money back.”

He said they had decided to file a civil case against the owner of the company to recover their money. A hearing held on November 4 was adjourned until today.

Pilgrims should be aware that Saudi Arabia deals only with licensed travel agencies, companies or societies within the UAE for Haj arrangements. The official UAE Haj Mission, which is organised by the General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments, can also help people plan Haj trips.

rruiz@thenational.ae