JEDDAH – A fisherman, who is accused of involvement in the forgery of land title deeds, pleaded innocent before an Administrative Court judge late last week, saying that he was not aware that the title deeds for tens of thousands of square meters of land had been issued in his name. The fisherman, who is the sole breadwinner of his family, said that he had applied for a land grant decades ago but his request had not been heard until now. However, the fisherman's nephew admitted before the court that he used his maternal uncle's national identity card to forge the title deeds for a SR10 million share with other people involved in the forgery. The case concerns the forgery of title deeds for three plots of land of 700,000, 800,000 and one million square meters respectively in Makkah. The plots of land were purchased for SR50 million. It was agreed that the notary public office would complete the paperwork. The nephew's share in the deal was 2.5 percent. The transfer actually took place. Then it appeared that the title deeds were forged. Twelve defendants including the notary public, two court clerks, several court employees, middlemen, and real estate businessmen involved in the case appeared before the court. The first defendant, a court clerk, confessed that he and the notary public attended to the transfer of ownership of the plots of land and shared the amount. Another court clerk informed the judge that he told the first defendant that an employee in the court registry department had confessed to receiving a telephone call from the notary public asking him to hand over the title deeds to the first defendant. A real estate broker admitted handing over SR800,000 to the first defendant to transfer the ownership of one of three plots of land.
