SR800m fraud: Saudi con men on the run

Saudi security agencies are trying to track down a total of SR800 million stolen from citizens and investors by Saudi con men. This involves two separate cases of SR400 million each. In the first case, a Saudi investor is accused of stealing SR400 million from more than 6,000 people, including citizens of other Gulf countries. He reportedly surrendered to the police, said sources quoted by local newspapers on Tuesday. However, Riyadh police spokesman Col. Fawaz Al-Maiman could neither deny nor confirm the report. Several citizens and the Riyadh governorate had filed complaints against the accused. The investor had signed contracts with them related to bogus investments in several projects in Riyadh, Makkah and Madinah, most notably the Riyadh metro project and equipment rental firms. Citizens had filed complaints with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry after the Saudi investor had failed to start paying them the first installments of the promised profits of SR4,000 a month over three years. The Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry has reportedly taken over the assets of the man and stopped services for all his operations. The Commerce Ministry has launched an investigation, said Hamad Al-Subaie, who represents some of the victims. Meanwhile, in the second case, the police are looking for five Saudis who defrauded 260 citizens in Madinah out of SR400 million after they invested in a bogus investment company set up on the Internet. Two of the suspects have reportedly fled to Dubai with the money. Abdullah Hamzah, the lawyer for the victims, said the con men had claimed that they could provide huge profits for their investors over a short period, a local daily reported. Hamzah said that he had been surprised that local banks had not questioned the huge money transfers to the bank account of this bogus company. -arabnews