New judge for Sawa scam case
Published: Mar 18, 2010 01:31 Updated: Mar 18, 2010 01:32
JEDDAH: The Makkah Court of Appeals has asked the president of the summary court in Jeddah on Tuesday to appoint a new judge to deliver a ruling in the long-running Sawa scam case.
The appeals court has already rejected the verdicts issued by former Judge Sheikh Abid Al-Azouri four times.
Prime suspect Abdul Aziz Al-Johani, who started life as a security guard to become a billionaire from masterminding an elaborate scam involving Sawa cards, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and 1,000 lashes. He was also asked to reimburse investors who had been conned.
Al-Johani had promised huge profits to people who invested in Sawa cards.
However, a number of investors did not make any money back despite handing over as much as millions of riyals. There were about 40,000 people who invested more than SR1.2 billion.
Al-Johani only had SR5 million left in his bank account after a number of investors were paid back. The court sold his cars for SR500,000 at an open auction three months ago.
The court of appeals asked any future judge to consider each case individually and to rule on the private cases before the public ones.
Al-Johani’s lawyer Hisham Hanbouli said the appointment of a new judge would lead to a further delay of three to four years in settling the cases.
“This will mean a further delay in reimbursing investors,” he said.
