JEDDAH: A fast-track court in Jeddah ordered Abdul Aziz Al-Jihani, the alleged mastermind of the Sawa card investment scam, to repay SR24 million to five group heads after being found guilty of receiving money from them to invest in nonexistent projects.
The court also sentenced three of the group heads to various jail terms, ranging from four to 12 months, for squandering shareholders’ funds. The court issued a summons to other group heads whom Al-Jihani claims he gave millions of riyals in dividends.
Al-Jihani’s lawyer, Hisham Hanbouli, said he was satisfied with the verdict. He called on those who received profits from investments and had not yet been put on trial to deposit the cash in the court’s account to avoid legal action.
The court had earlier fined, imprisoned and flogged 10 people involved in the scam.
More than 40,000 people have invested about SR1.2 billion in Al-Jihani’s fake investments. Al-Jihani now only has SR5 million in his bank account in addition to SR500,000 collected from selling his car, which was sold last year.
