New punishments will be imposed on individuals accused of forgery under an amended penal code approved by the Council of Ministers.

The change was made in four articles. The law, consisting of 28 articles, incriminates individuals who intentionally use or bring fraudulent documents into the Kingdom.

Perpetrators will face prison terms of anywhere between one and 10 years and a maximum penalty of SR1 million.

Article 13 states that forgery of commercial banking or insurance documents will result in a one to five-year prison term and a SR400,000 fine. Under the new law, crimes are divided into regular, minor and severe offenses.

Article 10 states that anyone found guilty of forging a document related to the king or his heir, or the head of the Ministers’ Council or his deputies, will be subject to a three-year prison term and a penalty up to SR1 million.

Under Article 11, forgery related to the treasury and treasury receipts will result in a two to seven-year prison term and a fine of up to SR1 million. In addition, the individual will have to repay the losses incurred by the treasury.

Article 12 states that employees who forge documents there were entrusted with issuing will be imprisoned for one to five years and will incur a fine of up to SR400,000.

Changing a personal photo in a document or misusing a blank signature are also considered forms of forgery.

The new law, which will soon go into effect, identifies forgery as creating a fake signature, seal, marks, or a real signature that was acquired illegally, in addition to changing a document, adding or omitting a signature and altering or partially destroying a document.

Forging a seal belonging to a public entity or an employee or falsifying a mark belonging to an international entity or one of its employees will result in a prison term ranging between one to seven years and a fine of up to SR700,000.

Forgers of a non-public entity’s seal will be either jailed up to 3 years or be fined SR300,000.

Forging a stamp will result in a five-year jail term and a SR500,000 fine, in addition to paying back the treasurer’s losses. Reusing a previously paid stamp will result in a three-month imprisonment term or a SR30,000 fine, in addition to having to pay back the losses incurred by the treasury.

These measures are hoped to discourage future transgressions.