JEDDAH, 30 October 2004 — Police are investigating five leading suspects in a major SAWA card shares scam as more than 100 Saudis who lost money in the business assembled in front of Jeddah police headquarters demanding quick action by authorities.
Press reports said one of the main partners in the share business disappeared with SR200 million after collecting the money in SAWA card shares from a large number of citizens by offering them a monthly profit of SR6,000 for a SR8,500 share. Many received the profit and this encouraged others to join the bandwagon.
According to Okaz daily, police arrested two main players in the scam on Wednesday, adding that security agents were questioning the two as well as three other suspects. Police have mounted a search to find other culprits involved in the scam.
The mastermind behind the scam, a 35-year-old security guard of Saudi Telecom Company, accused his second partner of running away with SR200 million without distributing the money among share holders, the Arabic daily reported quoting sources close to investigation. It estimated the mastermind’s balance at more than SR500 million. The STC has said it has nothing to do with the scam.
The man who disappeared with SR200 million has been blacklisted and will not be able to leave the country, Okaz said quoting security sources. The two main suspects accused that the second partner had collected SR1 billion from share holders, and that the mastermind had swindled SR174 million.
Security sources believe that the runaway suspects would be caught within two days as police have got adequate information about their whereabouts They also confirmed that no money from SR1 billion collected for the share business has been taken out of the Kingdom.
The paper said intelligence officers were successful in returning SR12 million to one of the victims, owner of a restaurant, after stopping payment of his check. Police also recovered SR400,000 paid by another citizen.
Many Saudis had invested in the “profitable” business without knowing about its consequences. A single person invested SR83 million and another SR38 million, the paper pointed out. A shareholder, who invested SR1 million in the business, has been hospitalized for high blood pressure.
Many people who collected money for the business said they were facing threats. Many had sold their cars, real estates and ornaments of wives and taken bank loans to invest in the project. Some victims said they would take legal action against people involved in the scam. Many small shareholders were lucky to recover their capital as they got profits ranging from SR1,200 to SR1,500 weekly for a share of SR8,500. But other share holders who gave SR200,000 to SR10 million could not get their capital.
