Six people were on Monday sentenced to 30 years in prison in the infamous Sawa (pre-paid phone cards) scam involving millions of riyals. Two security men who were among those sentenced on Monday have appealed the verdict. The court deferred verdict on the third security official. Five among those sentenced were accused of tempting investors including their employees and for their involvement in protecting prime accused Aziz Al-Jihani. The judge ordered M. Al-Amri, considered the biggest fish in the scam, to return SR140 million to the court's account to be distributed among the investors. Al-Amri will also get 300 lashes. Another accused M. Al-Shamrani got five years in jail and 300 lashes. Hisham Hanbouli, lawyer of Al-Jihani said he was satisfied with the verdict. Al-Jihani and his accomplices allegedly cheated about 30 investors of SR1.3 billion three years ago. During his trial, he had promised to return SR800 million to the investors. He said other promoters of the fake project appropriated the remaining amount.
