Engineer sentenced to jail, fined for operating without accreditation

In a significant move to regulate the engineering profession, a Saudi criminal court has sentenced an engineer to six months in prison and a fine of SR50,000 for practicing without obtaining professional accreditation in Riyadh.

The company employing the engineer was also fined SR100,000 for violating the provisions of Article 11 of the Law of Practicing Engineering Professions.

The Saudi Council of Engineers, led by Secretary General Eng. Abdul Mohsen Al-Majnouni, has been conducting inspection tours to enforce compliance with the law.

The council’s efforts have resulted in the seizure of numerous establishments and individuals violating the law, with 30 cases referred to the Public Prosecution for investigation and prosecution.

Violations included practicing engineering work without a license, employing unaccredited practitioners, and misleading advertising.

The council also took action against engineering offices and companies employing unaccredited practitioners and individuals providing false data or impersonating professional titles.

Eng. Al-Majnouni said that the authority seized 8 practitioners of the profession from individuals of different nationalities, whose violations included providing data that did not match the truth or following irregular methods that resulted in professional accreditation or professional degree, practicing engineering work without obtaining professional accreditation, and impersonating title of a professional degree.