Abdulrahman Al-Shabrawi Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — An Arab national impersonating as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs married a Saudi woman, stole her cash cards and withdrew a quarter of a million riyals from her bank account, according to court sources. The sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the case was now in the court and the public prosecutor charged the man with deceiving the woman's family with his claim that he was Saudi national and worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a diplomat. He was also accused of possessing a faked civil status card. The marriage took place two years ago. The man later embezzled funds from the woman's bank account after getting hold of her cash cards. The charge sheet points out that the man was arrested in connection with a previous scam in which he presented himself to a Saudi citizen as a foodstuffs trader and embezzled SR150,000 from him. It was after his arrest over the first case that his wife and her family realized that they were duped by the man who pretended to be a Saudi. During investigations into the first scam, the man confessed that he had taken money from the plaintiff to invest in foodstuffs trading, but then he incurred huge losses. He also confessed to stealing the identity of a Saudi and marrying a Saudi woman. He had faked the civil ID card by changing the photograph and the name. In view of the seriousness of the man's criminal activities, the prosecution decided to bring separate charges against him in the relevant courts. He will be tried in a civil court for deceiving the Saudi family with the civil ID card while the administrative court will consider the identity theft case. The embezzlement charges were referred to the criminal court. The evidence presented by the prosecutor for convicting the accused includes his confessions, the marriage contract, a written agreement with the victim of the investment scam, his wife's bank statements, and copies of the faked ID document. The man is kept in custody and his trial is expected to start after the Haj break.
