JEDDAH, 23 August 2005 — The mastermind behind the SR1.3 billion Sawa card scam was released from prison last week. His release was in response to calls from investors who demanded their money be returned to them, Arab News has learned.
Abdul Aziz Al-Jihani, a 38-year-old resident of Jeddah, was arrested 10 months ago for organizing a scam that lured investors by claiming they could double their capital selling Saudi Telecom Company’s Sawa prepaid cards.
Authorities agreed to release Al-Jihani after several tribal leaders guaranteed the Interior Ministry that he would return the money to investors within three months or return to jail.
According to the agreement, Al-Jihani will repay only SR856 million instead of the full amount of SR1.3 billion. Al-Jihani’s lawyer, Hisham Hanbooli, said that his client was in Jeddah with his family and that there were no restrictions on his movements.
Many investors expressed their disappointment that only SR856 million was to be repaid. They asked why Al-Jihani is being allowed to keep almost SR600 million of their money despite his confession in a religious court. They are also asking how Al-Jihani managed to obtain permission to sell thousands of Sawa cards from the company at a time when he was an STC security guard. The investors feel that he could not have carried out his plan without help from other company employees who have yet to be questioned or detained by the police.
Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed has assigned Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Muhanna, a ministry official, to be in charge of all aspects of the case.
Al-Muhanna said that there were 30 principal investors in the scam as well as a number of smaller ones. He said that the ministry had divided the investors into three groups: The first group consists of 15 individuals from whom SR24 million was taken; the second group consists of 11 investors to whom SR410,085,000 will be returned; and the third group consists of four investors and the amount to be returned to them is SR416,425,000.
The ministry official said that he was optimistic that the settlement of all the debts would be completed within the three months given to Al-Jihani by the authorities for the return of the money to investors.
As for how the money will be returned, the official said an announcement would be put in newspapers and the investors would be asked to contact the heads of their groups in order to receive their money.
Al-Muhanna also pointed out that once the total amount of money had been repaid, Al-Jihani would no longer be prosecuted since the money would have been returned to its original owners. He explained that the involvement of the Interior Ministry came as part of its responsibility to protect both people’s rights as well the national economy.
