Forgery Punishment in Saudi Arabia: Forged Signature and Papers

A contract carrying your signature for SAR 180,000 appears in a lawsuit, and you are sure you never signed it. Or you signed a blank paper for a relative to finish a government transaction for you, and later found it turned into an acknowledgement of debt. Before you say “forged”, decide exactly what happened: a copied signature, an addition to a genuine paper, or someone signing for you without authority? Each case has a different route.

Under the Penal Law for Forgery Crimes, the penalty depends on the type of paper. Forging an ordinary private document is punished by up to 3 years in prison and a fine of up to SAR 300,000, or one of them (Article 9). Forging a document attributed to a government body is punished by 1 to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to SAR 500,000 (Article 8). Anyone who uses a forged paper knowing it is forged receives the same penalty as forgery (Article 19).

When is changing a signature or document forgery?

Article 1 defines forgery as changing the truth by one of the methods set in the law, in bad faith, with the intention of using it, in a way that may cause material, moral or social harm. So a difference in how your signature looks from one paper to another is not enough on its own, because a person's own signature naturally varies. What counts is a deliberate change that is meant to be used and may cause harm.

A “document” in this law is not only a printed paper. It includes any writing that conveys meaning, whatever the medium, including information technology. So an edited PDF file or a fabricated electronic message may fall within it.

Article 2 lists the methods of forgery. The most common in everyday disputes are:

• Placing on a document a signature, fingerprint or stamp that is fake or copied.
• Obtaining your genuine signature by deception and then placing it on the document.
• Changing a document by adding, deleting or replacing, such as changing an amount or a date.
• Including in the document a false fact as if it were true.
• Misusing a signature or fingerprint on a blank paper that was entrusted to the person.

What is the forgery punishment in Saudi Arabia for each type of document?

There is no single figure for all forgery. These are the main forms as set out in the law:

Cheques and bills of exchange are commercial papers (Article 13), so their penalty is heavier than an ordinary contract. An attempt is punished by up to half the maximum (Article 20), and a partner who agreed, incited or helped receives the same penalty as the main offender (Article 21). If forgery is committed for the benefit of a private business and with its knowledge, the business may be fined up to SAR 10 million and banned from contracting with public bodies for 2 to 5 years (Article 23).

How do you challenge a forged signature in court?

If the paper is used against you in a civil or commercial case, the Law of Evidence gives you two routes. The first is denial of the signature, handwriting or fingerprint. It applies only to private documents, and then the burden of proving that it came from you falls on the person relying on it (Article 39). The court orders a handwriting comparison or hears witnesses if the case papers are not enough (Article 40). The second is a claim of forgery (iddi'a bil-tazwir). It applies to both official and private documents, and the burden of proof is on you.

The difference is practical. If you admit the stamp is yours but say you did not stamp the paper, your route is a forgery claim, not denial (Article 39). A forgery claim can be made at any stage of the case, by a memo stating all the places of forgery, the evidence for it and the investigation you ask for (Article 44). The original or the copy you received must be handed to the court, or the right to make the claim is lost (Article 45).

When the court orders an investigation of the forgery, the document can no longer be enforced while it continues (Article 47). If forgery is proved, the court sends the paper to the Public Prosecution (Article 49). On the other hand, if the whole document is found genuine after you denied it, or your forgery claim is rejected, you may be fined up to SAR 10,000, and the other party may claim compensation (Articles 43 and 49). If no case has been filed against you yet but you fear a forged paper will be used against you, you may file an independent forgery claim (Article 50).

Salem gave a colleague a paper signed in blank to submit for a government transaction. Later he found it used as a note for SAR 70,000 in a lawsuit against him.

The signature is genuine, so denying it does not help. His route is a forgery claim based on misuse of a signature on a blank paper (Article 2(h) of the Penal Law for Forgery Crimes), with proof of the purpose for which the paper was handed over: messages, witnesses to the handover, the nature of the transaction.

The other party may answer that the details were written before the signature and by agreement. Here a technical examination of the order of the writing, together with the messages, helps, because a signature report alone does not answer the question of how far the permission went.

How do you protect the original document?

Keep the original if you have it. Do not write on it, staple it or scan it in a way that damages it. A copy helps to understand the dispute, but some technical tests need the original. If the original is with the other party or a government body, say so and state where it is.

Collect what surrounds the paper: messages before and after it, and samples of your settled signature on official papers, which are accepted for comparison (Article 42 of the Law of Evidence). For a digital document, keep the original file and its data, not a screenshot. In your defence, identify the page and place in dispute. A general denial of all the papers may lose the point that needs testing.

Should you file a criminal complaint or defend in the civil case?

Forgery is a crime that can be reported to the police or the Public Prosecution. At the same time, you usually need to defend yourself in the civil case where the paper was submitted. A complaint alone does not stop the claim automatically, so do not let the civil case go ahead without challenging the document before the same court.

A criminal case for forgery lapses after 10 years from the day after the crime, except for forging the state seal and documents attributed to the King and senior officials (Article 27). A person who reports his own crime before it is discovered and before the forged item is used is exempted from penalty by the court, and the court may exempt someone who identifies the other offenders after discovery (Article 25).

This is general information based on the official Arabic texts of Saudi laws, which prevail over any translation. It is not legal advice for your specific case.

Practical solutions for both sides

If the signature is attributed to you or the paper harms you:

• Choose the type of challenge: denial of the signature if it never came from you, or a forgery claim if the signature is genuine but the content was added or changed.
• State precisely in your memo where the forgery is, the evidence for it and the investigation you ask for.
• Provide samples of your signature on official papers that can be used for comparison.
• Do not rely only on a criminal complaint. Continue your challenge in the civil case so that no judgment is issued on the paper.
• Do not tamper with the original or change anything on it, for any reason.

If you rely on the paper, or you are accused of forging it:

• Collect proof of where the document came from: who handed it over, when, in what context, and the messages around it.
• Keep the original and give it to the court when asked. Do not submit edited copies.
• If you doubt the document is sound, you may give up relying on it to end the investigation (Article 46 of the Law of Evidence).
• Challenge the handwriting comparison report and ask for it to be completed if it does not answer the point in dispute, such as the order of the writing.
• Avoid any contact with witnesses or the other party that could be seen as pressure to change statements.

If a paper you do not recognise has appeared, or you face a forgery claim, send us a copy of the document and any messages you have on WhatsApp, and we will look with you at which route fits your position.