JEDDAH: A fast-track court in Jeddah yesterday sentenced six additional group heads, including a police officer, to various prison terms and asked them to repay SR25 million for their involvement in the infamous Sawa card investment scam.
The police officer, whose name was withheld, was sentenced to one-year imprisonment and asked to return SR10 million which he received from the scam’s alleged mastermind, Abdul Aziz Al-Jihani.
Three other men were jailed for 12 months each and asked to reimburse SR15.6 million that they had obtained from Al-Jihani. Two other group heads were jailed for four months each while a sixth was acquitted after signing a pledge not to involve himself in such scams in the future.
Last week, the court ordered Al-Jihani to repay SR24 million to five group heads after being found guilty of extorting money from them.
The court also sentenced three of the group heads to various jail terms for squandering shareholders’ funds.
So far 25 people involved in the Sawa card scam were convicted and sentenced to various punishments, including prison terms, fines and floggings.
More than 40,000 people invested about SR1.2 billion in Al-Jihani’s nonexistent investment projects.
Al-Jihani’s lawyer, Hisham Hanbouli, said the rulings proved that the case concerns with money circulation rather than trading in Sawa cards as claimed.
