'Appeals Court' Cancels Detention of Civil Information Employee and Refrains from Sentencing in Forgery Case

It acquitted him of unauthorized access to the automated system and upheld his acquittal on charges of money laundering and bribery.

The Court of Appeal ruled to annul the imprisonment sentence imposed on the first defendant in the case of manipulating registered residential addresses with the Public Authority for Civil Information, and refrained from pronouncing a penalty for the crime of forgery in an official document, while acquitting him of the charge of unauthorized access to the automated system and upholding his acquittal on the charges of money laundering and bribery.

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Previously, the Criminal Court had sentenced the first defendant to four years in prison with hard labor on charges of unauthorized access to the automated system and forgery in an official document, while acquitting him of charges of money laundering, bribery, and forming an organized criminal group.

Lawyer Abdulmohsen Al-Qattan represented the first defendant, insisting on his innocence regarding the charges against him. He argued the absence of the elements of the crime of money laundering due to the lack of criminal intent, and the absence of the crime of joining a criminal group due to the lack of an act of joining, in addition to the absence of the elements of the bribery charge and the lack of conclusive evidence that it occurred.

Al-Qattan also argued the absence of the elements of the crime of unauthorized access to the automated system, and the invalidity of the defendant’s statements before the Public Prosecution due to their legal inaccuracy, and the lack of definitive evidence proving he committed the alleged acts, alongside the lack of seriousness in the investigations and the statements of the incident officer.

The defense submitted a dossier containing copies of the defendant’s marriage contract, documents related to his family members, and invoices for the purchase of the seized gold ornaments, citing his client’s circumstances and the context of the incident, and requested a primary acquittal, or alternatively, the application of the highest degree of leniency.

The Court of Appeal concluded by annulling the imprisonment sentence and refraining from pronouncing a penalty for the crime of forgery in an official document, acquitting him of the charge of unauthorized access to the automated system, and upholding his acquittal on the charges of money laundering and bribery.