JEDDAH — The Court of Grievances in Jeddah has sentenced an expatriate of an Arab origin to a year and five months in prison, a SR5,000 fine and deportation from the Kingdom after serving his jail term for forging a Ph.D degree in internal medicine. Local daily Al-Watan said on Tuesday that the expatriate was able to work with his forged medical degree at a private dispensary in Jeddah for seven months before the forgery was detected. The forged degree was discovered by the branch of the Foreign Ministry in Jeddah after the fraudulent doctor took it there for attestation. A court source said the Arab expatriate came to the Kingdom with his mother to perform Umrah but was able to obtain a regular residence permit (iqama) in Jeddah. He said the forger worked as an accountant in a private company but later found out that the salary he was receiving from this job was not enough and that his income was too little to cater to the needs of his family back home. The convict said he studied medicine in his country for a year but had to quit for personal reasons which prevented him from continuing his studies. He said he came to the Kingdom in the company of his mother to perform Umrah but was able to obtain an official residence permit which enabled him to take his first job as an accountant. He said he contacted a certificate forger in his country and asked him for a Ph.D degree in internal medicine after supplying him with all the required data including his personal photograph. The convict said the forger asked for an amount of SR2,000 for the forged certificate. He said when he received the fake degree, he was able to join a dispensary in Jeddah where he was paid a good salary. He said after eight months, the dispensary asked him for his original certificate which should be authenticated by the Foreign Ministry. The convict said the ministry discovered that the certificate was forged and handed him over to the police.
