Cairo: Saudi prosecutors have said they completed interrogations with a citizen charged with forging cheques valued at a total of $40 million.
The kingdom’s public prosecution said in a statement that the defendant had been found out to have presented three cheques to a bank, but upon scrutiny they were proven bogus.
The man has been sent for a trial, the date of which is not set yet.
Prosecution vowed zero-tolerance towards those implicated in forgery crimes, and promised continued efforts to support integrity and confidence in the kingdom’s financial system. Deterrent penalties will be meted out against anyone seeking to harm national economy, it said.
Under Saudi law, forging commercial, bank or insurance documents is punishable by up to three years and a maximum fine of SR400,000. Penalties are tougher if the crime is linked to other offences.
In June, Saudi media reported that a Saudi court had sentenced a man to three years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of SR300,000 after he was found guilty of illegally obtaining a chequebook of a charity group and forging three cheques of more than 34 million in an attempt to get the money. The defendant alleged the money was the value of a maintenance contract for the non-profit group.
Last year, Saudi Arabia established a prosecution unit to handle cases of financial fraud in a step aimed to fast-track related procedures.
This branch is manned by prosecutors specialised in handling such fraud crimes.
