Nine jailed for forging building permits

RIYADH: A court in Sakaka has sentenced nine people to jail and fines for forging building permits in exchange for money, and getting visas for their companies from the Labor Ministry.
The court ruled that they would all be jailed for a combined 10 years and fined SR70,000, a local publication reported recently. Several of the accused, Saudis and Egyptians, used to work at a municipality.
The Control and Investigation Bureau (CIB) introduced 26 pieces of evidence against 11 people involved in the case, which saw 143 building permits forged and 27 sold for money.
The accused used 67 permits to seek visas for foreign workers from the labor ministry. An official at the Rafhaa municipality used his position to sell the permits, the court found.
The first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth defendants are all Saudis while the third and eleventh are Egyptians.
The charges against the first, second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh involved forging official records for 143 building permits. The seventh defendant sold 24 permits to the eighth defendant for money. The seventh defendant submitted nine false building permits for visas for his company.
The first defendant sold several building permits to the third and fourth defendants, and submitted 47 building permits to the labor office. Also, the sixth defendant submitted 11 false building permits to the labor office for visas.
The fifth defendant sold several building permits to the tenth defendant. The first defendant, an employee at Rafhaa municipality, took advantage of his position and sold forged permits.
The court convicted nine of the 11 accused. The first defendant received two years in jail but the sentence was suspended because he needs treatment for cancer. However, he was fined SR20,000.
The second and fourth defendants were sentenced to one year in prison and fines of SR10,000 each. The fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth defendants were sentenced to one year and fines of SR5,000 each, but the court suspended the sentences.