“The delay in fixing a date for the auction was caused by a number of technical reasons, including getting back a number of pieces of land which were sold for small down payments,” said Saleh Al-Naeem, an auditor involved in tracking the land investments made by Fouad Al-Ajhouri, who has been in prison for 26 years in connection to this real estate scam.

There are 321 land plots in Jeddah’s Ubhur district that have been traced back to Al-Ajhouri. The jailed fraudster also reportedly owns land deeds in other areas.

Ubhur has been the focus of rapidly expanding real estate development, including private and commercial real estate and beach resorts. An estimated 9,000 investors were defrauded and are seeking compensation from the land auctions.

He said after the court session, modalities of the auction and mechanisms of sales will be decided. Al-Ajhouri, who was unable to pay his investors has been in jail for more than 26 years.

His case is considered the oldest sham investment in the Kingdom dating back to more than 25 years ago. His fake investments, in pieces of land and real estate, reached more than SR1 billion. He has more than 9,000 investors who are still waiting for repayment.

Al-Ajhouri’s plot consists of 321 pieces of land in the tourist area of the Obhur. He also has real estate properties elsewhere.

“We are looking for good sales in order to repay the investors and compensate them for the long years they have waited,” Al-Naeem said.