Saudi Arabia frees all detainees from Ritz
RIYADH, January 30, 2018
Saudi Arabian authorities have released all the detainees in the corruption probe, including top businessmen, former government officials as well as princes, from the Ritz Carlton Hotel, that served as a jail for the country’s elite during the crackdown, said a report.
The news signalled that the three-month-old purge, in which dozens of top officials and businessmen were detained by investigators who said they aimed to seize some $100 billion of illicit assets, was drawing to a close, reported Reuters.
There are no longer any detainees left at the Ritz-Carlton, stated the report citing a senior Saudi official.
Last week, the attorney general said that countrywide most detainees had agreed to settlements, 90 had been released after charges were dropped, and 95 remained in custody. Some cases will go to trial.
One of the most prominent detainess, Prince Alwaleed, the billionaire chairman of Riyadh’s Kingdom Holding Company who owns stakes in Citigroup and Twitter, returned home on Saturday after reaching a settlement with authorities, a senior government official was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
Waleed Al Ibrahim, head of a major media firm, and retail billionaire Fawaz Al Hokair were also freed after agreeing to deals, he added.