Fraud Case in Saudi Arabia: Your Rights If You Are Accused

You received a summons from the police: “You are required to attend regarding a financial fraud report.” The complainant is a former partner who paid you SAR 120,000 in a project that failed, and you see it as a business loss, not fraud. The first thing on your mind: will they detain me? And what do I say?

The direct answer: a summons is not a conviction, and detention is not automatic. You have the right to know the reason for your arrest or summons, to have a lawyer from the investigation stage (Article 4 of the Law of Criminal Procedure), and to contact anyone you want to inform. Your defence usually turns on one point: was the money taken by a fraudulent method, or was the relationship a partnership or a debt that failed? Documents that show the nature of the relationship from the start are the most important thing you bring with you.

What are your rights from the moment of arrest or summons?

Article 22 of the Implementing Regulations of the Law of Criminal Procedure is clear: when the accused is arrested or detained, he must be told three things, and must sign to confirm that he knows them:

• The reasons for his arrest or detention.
• His right to have an agent or lawyer in the investigation and trial stages.
• His right to contact anyone he wishes to inform of his arrest or detention.

If the accused refuses to sign, a record is made of this. Signing here confirms that you were told your rights; it is not a confession to the charge.

Article 34 of the Law of Criminal Procedure requires the criminal investigation officer to hear the arrested person's statement immediately. If there appears to be sufficient evidence against him, the officer sends him with the record to the investigator within twenty-four hours, and the investigator must question him within twenty-four hours and then order his detention or release. The period starts for the officer from the time of arrest, and for the investigator from the time the accused reaches him (Article 20 of the Regulations).

When can you be detained during a fraud investigation?

Detention is not an automatic result of every report. Article 24 of the Regulations lists grounds for detention during the investigation, including:

• The crime is one of the major crimes that require detention.
• The interest of the investigation requires detention.
• The accused does not name a place of residence that the investigator accepts.
• There is a fear that he will run away or hide.
• He does not undertake to appear when called.

Article 1 of the Regulations defines major crimes as those that require detention under Article 112 of the law; since the 1441H amendment, the Attorney General sets their list in agreement with the Ministry of Interior and the Presidency of State Security, and it is published in the official gazette. So having a fixed address the investigator accepts and being ready to undertake to appear carry real weight when your detention is considered.

The list in force was issued by Attorney General's Decision No. (1) dated 1/1/1442H and published in the local press. One of its items is "financial fraud cases where the total amount exceeds SAR 20,000, unless the private right has ended". So in the example of the partner who paid SAR 120,000, if the investigator finds the evidence of fraud sufficient, he must order detention (Article 113 of the law). If the private right ends through payment, settlement or waiver, the case no longer falls under this item. If you are detained, the first detention order may not exceed five days; it can then be extended by orders totalling no more than forty days, and then by further periods totalling no more than 180 days from the date of arrest (Articles 113 and 114). You may file a grievance against the detention order or its extension, and it must be decided within five days (Article 115). The investigator may release you whenever detention is no longer justified (Article 120).

Understand the charge: fraud, breach of trust or a civil dispute?

The Anti-Fraud and Breach of Trust Law separates two crimes. Fraud under Article 1: taking someone else's money without right by a fraudulent method such as lying, deception or creating a false belief. Breach of trust under Article 2: taking without right money handed to you because of your work, a trust, partnership, deposit, loan of use, lease, pledge or agency, or dealing with it in bad faith, or deliberately harming it.

This distinction matters to you a great deal. Many cases begin with a dispute over an unpaid debt or a failed project. Being unable to pay is not fraud by itself, because the text requires a fraudulent method through which the money was taken. This is why documents that show the nature of the relationship from the start, such as the contract, the agreement or the messages, can change the description of the whole case.

First: Khalid took SAR 50,000 from his friend under a partnership contract in a real project; the project then lost money and he could not return it. This is a money dispute, and the documents show the project existed.

Second: a person took the same amount after sending documents for a project that did not exist and invented profits. Here the element of false belief, on which fraud is based, appears.

The difference between the two cases lies in how the money was taken and what the papers prove; the amount is the same.

You may be accused as an assistant to the offender, for example if your bank account was used to receive money. Article 3 punishes an assistant if the crime takes place as a result of his help, so proving that you did not know the purpose, and the circumstances in which your account was used, is a central point in your defence. If the act is also a crime under another law, such as the Anti-Cyber Crime Law, Article 9 applies the harsher penalty.

Practical steps before the investigation session

1. Get a lawyer early. Article 4 of the Law of Criminal Procedure gives every accused person the right to an agent or lawyer to defend him in both the investigation and trial stages, not only at trial.
2. Ask to know the exact charge against you. Under Article 72 of the Regulations, the questioning record opens with the investigator's name and position, the clerk's name, the place, date and time of the record, and the charges against the accused.
3. Collect your documents: contracts, transfers, chats, and anything that proves what you handed over or paid back.
4. Read your recorded statement before signing it, and ask for anything you did not say to be corrected.
5. Avoid contacting the complainant in a way that could be seen as pressure or a threat, and let any settlement go through clear channels.

What can change the course of the case?

Article 8 of the Anti-Fraud Law allows the court to exempt an offender who reports the crime to the competent authority before it is known and before harm occurs, or after it is known if his report leads to the arrest of the other offenders, if there are several. On the other hand, the sentence is heavier if it is proved that the crime was committed through an organised gang or as a repeat offence.

On conviction, the tools used and the proceeds are confiscated by court judgment under Article 6, and a summary of the judgment may be published at the convicted person's expense once it is final under Article 7. Investigation and prosecution of these crimes belong to the Public Prosecution under Article 10.

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 you are the accused:

• Know the exact charge, and do not sign a statement you have not read.
• Ask for a lawyer in the investigation and at trial; this is your right from the first session.
• Collect the contracts, transfers and messages that show the nature of the dealing from the start.
• If you agree with the complainant on payment, put the agreement in writing and state its effect on his complaint.

If you are the complainant:

• Provide all your evidence, organised by date.
• State your money claim as a number, because your complaint counts as a claim for your private right.
• Accept only a written settlement, and do not sign a waiver before you receive the money.
• Avoid publicly shaming the accused on social media before judgment; it may turn against you.

What you say in your first statement stays in the file. Send us on WhatsApp a picture of the summons and the contracts and transfers you have, and we will review them with you before the appointment.