RIYADH — Fouad Al-Ajhouri, the Saudi prisoner who spent more than 25 years in prisons in both Riyadh and Jeddah for allegedly swindling SR700 million, will be released tomorrow, an informed source told Arab News.

“Ajhouri was shifted from Al-Malaz Prison in Riyadh to the General Prison in Jeddah last Wednesday. His case has been settled and there are promises that he will be released on Wednesday in Jeddah after spending more than a quarter of a century in Saudi jails,” the source said.

In a previous interview Ajhouri told Al-Eqtisadiah, a sister publication of Arab News, that the only reason for his imprisonment was nonpayment of SR700 million, adding that the authorities had not filed any charges against him. Ajhouri was first jailed when he was 44 years old.

When asked to explain what had happened, he said he had been running a company that invested in foreign gold markets and that he had made enormous profits in speculative trading. At the time, he received a letter from the minister of commerce asking him to close his office, saying that speculative trading in gold markets was risky and would cause losses to investors.

“I told my clients but 98 percent of them refused to withdraw their money. I told them I would invest their money in real estate and industrial projects inside and outside Saudi Arabia,” said Ajhouri. “My clients and I began purchasing land in the Kingdom and abroad, especially in Spain and at one time, the company’s capital reached SR1.1 billion.”

After a time, the Ministry of Commerce asked him to close all his companies and demanded settlement within a month — in other words that all the shareholders’ money should be returned to them. The ministry announced in newspapers that Ajhouri’s companies were bankrupt. This prompted investors to turn against him. “All this happened while my investments were gong well and the clients had full knowledge of the projects the company was running,” he said.

“I went to the ministry and told them that it was difficult to close down the company and pay the dues of shareholders within a month as all the money had been invested in projects abroad and thus the money was not in local banks where it could be withdrawn quickly and returned to shareholders.” However, he said that he had collected some money to pay investors after selling some real estate and assets outside the Kingdom.

With three months, he said he was able to pay SR300 million to investors. In the meantime, the ministry banned him from traveling abroad. He informed the ministry that his investors stood to lose their money.

In the end, he alleged to have lost billions of riyals abroad. The ministry agreed to accept three conditions for his release: a sponsor, bank guarantee for SR700 million and legal deeds. “I reached an agreement with a businessman to bail me out and provide him with deeds worth SR700 million,” he said.

In the meantime, he was allowed to travel outside the Kingdom and return three times. He said his return to the Kingdom proved his good intention to return the money to shareholders. Ajhouri said he was from Makkah and his family had been involved in providing pilgrim services.