Al-Marsad newspaper: The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, issued a royal decree amending the fifth paragraph of Article Two of Royal Decree No. (M/43) dated 11/29/1377, regarding the interpretation of the crime of public servant abuse of the authority of his position.
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The amendment approved by the royal decree issued in the same paragraph stipulates: “Every public employee who abused the authority of his position – directly or indirectly – to achieve a personal interest for himself or others or to harm others, shall be punished by preventing or refraining from implementing the contents of the orders or Royal decrees, regulations, bylaws, cabinet decisions, or Prime Minister’s orders, or their incorrect or misplaced application, whenever such exploitation was intentional and in bad faith, without prejudice to the disciplinary accountability of the public servant established by law.
The punishment
The penalty imposed on the employee who committed this crime is imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years or a fine of not more than 20 thousand riyals, and the same penalty is imposed on those who participated or colluded with him in committing it, whether they were employees or non-employees.
The fifth paragraph of the decree, before its amendment, stipulates that whoever commits “administrative misuse such as tampering with regulations, orders, instructions and the ways of implementing them shall be punished with abstention and delay that results in private or public harm, and this includes deliberately interpreting the systems, orders, and instructions incorrectly or in a wrong way.” place with the intent of harming a governmental interest in exchange for a personal interest, or exploiting influence of any kind in interpreting and implementing orders for a personal benefit, directly or indirectly.