RIYADH: A Saudi man has been arrested for illegally obtaining SR493 million ($131 million) of bank financing.
The Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) worked with the Presidency of State Security and the Saudi Central Bank to arrest Khalid Ibrahim Al-Jraiwi.
He was arrested for “working with a bank employee in deceiving the banking regulations and obtaining an illegal bank financing of SR493 million,” Nazaha said on X.
It was one of a number of criminal cases announced on Wednesday by the authority, with legal proceedings underway.
Al-Jraiwi submitting a financing request containing false property deeds and fake contracts indicating investments in those properties by government entities.
The bank employee connected to Al-Jraiwi accepted the request and sent an email to the relevant departments at the bank confirming that the documents were valid. After receiving the financing, Al-Jraiwi transferred SR100 million abroad to purchase properties, registered under the names of his relatives.
Three men from the General Directorate of Passports were also arrested for facilitating the illegal entry and exit of Al-Jraiwi in exchange for money. The accused individuals admitted the charges and have been referred to court for prosecution.
In another case, Nazaha officials cooperated with the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority to arrest Saudi man Mohammed Ghazi Mohammed Al-Sayed and two Yemeni residents, Abdulmalik Ahmed Qaid and Abdullah Abdu Qasim, for smuggling a container of cigarettes from Jeddah Islamic Port.
The men were “caught in the act” of paying SR1.5 million to smuggle the container without paying a SR7.2 million tariff, by claiming that the cigarettes were paper tissues.
Investigations into the case are continuing ahead of the appearance of the accused in court.
The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority also helped Nazaha arrest Sudanese man Osman Mohammed Naeem Abdulrahman for using a car and SR20,000 to pay for smuggling four tons of tobacco from Jeddah Islamic Port.
In another case, Al-Jouf Municipality official Khalaf Saleh Marzouq Al-Khaldi was arrested for receiving SR8 million from Yemeni resident Mohammed Ali Omar Al-Saqaf to issue invoices worth more than SR17.6 million for roadworks projects in the region that were not executed.
