The District Court in Madina commuted the conviction of a 40-year-old woman fraudster by five years. She was earlier sentenced to 20 years and 1,500 lashes of the whip. The latest decision was issued after Khaled Riyadh, a legal consultant and the woman's lawyer, presented a 15-page document with 11 reasons for his objection to the initial ruling. Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learned from informed sources that the District Court has referred the case to the Court of Cassation in Makkah for final attestation of the new verdict. The woman surrendered to authorities several months ago after 60 lawsuits were filed by shareholders who demanded that she return SR16 million they gave her to invest in the stock market. The woman, who has seven children, was working as a guard in a girls' school in Madina. About two years ago, she collected the money and said she would invest it in the stock market. She stopped providing investors with profits when stock prices dropped, which led them to file complaints against her. The woman was taken into custody and efforts were made to win her release, but they ended after more than 12 verdicts in absentia were issued by the district and general courts in Madina and she was transferred to the General Prison. The General Court in Madina also said that anyone who has a new case against the woman must go to the Administrative Court, which is the authority for receiving business-related cases. The General Court in Madina had refused to look into the 60 cases filed against woman after her lawyer demanded that one judge look into all of them. The court's president held long meetings with its judges and the court decided to continue looking into the cases.
