JEDDAH: A summary court in Jeddah yesterday sentenced five people involved in the SR1.3-billion Sawa card scam to five years in jail. The court also ordered four of the men to return SR142.2 million that they received from Abdul Aziz Al-Jihani, the prime suspect in the case.

Meshari Al-Amri, one of the promoters of the fraudulent investment scheme, has been asked to deposit SR140 million in the court’s account, in addition to serving time in jail.

Three police officers involved in the case will serve five years in jail and return SR800,000. The court handed down a five-year jail sentence to the fifth convict, Muhammad Al-Shamrani alias Bin Mashhour.

The five men were produced in court after Al-Jihani claimed that he shared the money with them and that he could fulfill his legal commitments only if his five collaborators returned the money.

Al-Jihani was released on parole in order to facilitate the return of the money that he collected to its rightful owners.

Victims of the so-called Sawa scam complained that some police officers protected Al-Jihani, and denied access to him when they wanted to negotiate with him.

Commenting on the latest twist in the case, Al-Jihani’s attorney, Hisham Hanbooli, said the verdict proved that his client was only managing money collected from investors and that he did not resort to any questionable practices. “So, the other five should return the money they received from my client so that he can pay back the investors without delay.”

Hanbooli called on all who received a share of the profits from his client but who have not yet been summoned by the court to return the money on their own before they have to appear before a judge.

He added that the court had summoned a senior government employee after Al-Jihani’s deposition that he had paid SR11 million to him.

The employee, however, testified under oath that he did not know Al-Jihani and had never received any money from him.

Al-Jihani and his accomplices allegedly cheated about 30 investors of SR1.3 billion through the investment scheme they floated about four years ago. During his trial, Al-Jihani had promised to return SR800 million to the investors. He said other promoters of the fake project appropriated the remaining amount.