The judge in the Sawa card scam has defended his sentencing of the 45 men found guilty of defrauding investors of SR1.2 billion, despite a Makkah Court of Appeal ruling which has overturned his sentencing of the men. The judge had earlier sentenced the scam's mastermind, Abdulaziz Al-Jihani, to 20 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for the public right. The verdict also stipulated that Al-Jihani return all the money of those people who invested in his scheme. His partners in the crime received prison terms, lashes, fines and travel bans. Al-Jihani had appealed his sentence, describing it as too harsh. It is learnt that the judge on Tuesday responded to the Makkah Appeals Court decision by saying that he stands by his rulings. The fraudulent scheme was created by Al-Jihani, a former security guard at Saudi Telecom Company (STC). He claimed to have access to Sawa prepaid recharge cards at about 80 percent of their face value. He then devised a scheme to sell these cards at the original cost price to reap huge profits and promised to distribute money to more than 40,000 investors. According to reports, three police officers involved in the scam are serving five years in jail and ordered to return SR800,000, while another was sentenced to a year's imprisonment and was asked to return SR10 million he received from Al-Jihani. The court acquitted a Border Guard colonel for lack of evidence. However, Al-Jihani has not given any clue of what has happened to over SR1 billion in illegal earnings. An investigations committee succeeded in recovering only SR190 million in assets, it has been reported.
