JEDDAH: The Court of Appeal in Jeddah has invalidated a land deed worth more than SR 2 billion after finding that the document was made out illegally in Jeddah. The illegal deed involving a judge and a real estate businessman was discovered following the court’s investigation into a complaint by a landowner that someone else was claiming the land that legally belonged to him, Al-Watan daily reported quoting informed sources on Sunday.
The deed in question was of a plot of 2.25 million square meters belonging to the respondent and some other citizens next to his plot.
The Jeddah resident first complained to the Ministry of Justice about the emergence of the second deed claiming his property, stating that he had the officially endorsed original deed issued years ago. The ministry passed the complaint to the Court of Appeal in Makkah to study the circumstances that led to the emergence of a second deed for the same property.
After detailed investigations on the questionable deed and the way it was issued, the court concluded that the deed had been issued illegally on the basis of forged documents. The court investigation also revealed that a lower court, which had issued the second deed, did not keep any record on the issue of the new title deed.
Another startling finding of the investigation was that vast plots close to the respondent’s land were also added to the second deed to claim the ownership of 1.2 million square meters of land close of the respondent’s land. It was evident that a judge at the lower court was involved in the issue of the illegal deed.
It was also reported that the judge involved in the issue requested for retirement last year. The court of appeal has issued an order to investigate the case in full and return the land to its rightful owners.
Judge in land deed fraud
