JEDDAH — The Riyadh Criminal Court has acquitted a man who conned SR400 million out of 6,000 citizens of money laundering charges, Al-Hayat daily reported. Some of the victims are nationals of nearby Gulf countries.
The victims filed a complaint against him after they became certain that the man had lost all their money and kept lying to them, saying he was investing in different real estate projects in Riyadh.
He is still in police custody, according to sources, who noted that there are several attempts on the part of the Riyadh Court, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and the Bureau of Investigations and Prosecution to close the case and settle the entitlements of all shareholders.
However, the majority of them refused the settlement agreement, which stated that each shareholder should be paid back his capital money and give up his rights to any profits. Some of them agreed to such settlement and even showed up before the defendant's lawyer and signed necessary documents.
Sources expected major developments in the case after the end of Eid Al-Fitr Holidays and that the shareholders will be paid back their money. In an earlier court hearing, the accused stated before the court that he was financially capable of returning the money to shareholders.
When many of the shareholders filed a complaint against the investor before the court, MOCI, and several other government agencies, all the services of the investor's business were suspended and an investigation was launched.
The whole story started when the investor offered to shareholders to bear the costs of making containers for trucks at his factory. A container costs SR75,000. After that, he signed a lease-like agreement with each shareholder and promised to pay him SR4,000 each month over a period of three years.
