Billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal. PHOTO | AFP 
Summary
- Saudi authorities had earlier said the government would seize any asset or property linked to the suspects in the crackdown including dollar billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, who owns a string of top global hotels including Norfolk.
- Mr Al-Waleed owns a significant stake in the five-star Fairmont Raffles group. Its stable of hotels in Kenya includes the Fairmont Mara Safari Club and Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club.
Saudi authorities had earlier said
the government would seize any asset or property linked to the suspects
in the crackdown including dollar billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin
Talal, who owns a string of top global hotels including Norfolk.
The
corruption crackdown has sent shock waves in the business community,
with fears of disruption to their businesses both in Saudi Arabia and
abroad.
But the country’s Council of Economic and Development Affairs said in a Financial Times
report instructed officials to ensure that activities of companies,
“including those wholly or partly owned by individuals under
investigation, were not disrupted while investigations into corruption
were under way”.
Mr Al-Waleed, one of the world’s
richest men, is the owner of Nairobi Norfolk Hotel. He was among
high-ranking Saudi officials arrested on Sunday accused of money
laundering, bribery, extortion and channelling government contracts to
companies linked to the suspects.
Mr Al-Waleed owns a
significant stake in the five-star Fairmont Raffles group. Its stable of
hotels in Kenya includes the Fairmont Mara Safari Club and Fairmont
Mount Kenya Safari Club.
The three iconic hotels, collectively boast of 290 guest rooms
and suites, 51 luxury tents and over 10 food and beverage outlets.
The
Saudi central bank also clarified in a statement that only individuals’
accounts, rather than those belonging to businesses, had been frozen
pending legal cases against the suspects.
“In other
words, corporate businesses remain unaffected,” Ahmed al-Kholifey,
governor of the central bank, known as the Saudi Arabian Monetary
Authority was quoted saying by FT.
“It is business as usual for both banks and corporates.”
A
serial investor in top global luxury hotel chains, Mr Al-Waleed has in
the past 30 years single-handedly built up a fortune worth $20.4 billion
(about Sh2.1 trillion) according to Bloomberg.
His
investment firm, Kingdom Holdings, has snapped up for a song shares in
the world’s most famous brand names including Apple, Disney, Fairmont
and Four Seasons.
He also has major stakes in News
Corp, Citigroup and social media company Twitter. He co-owns the Four
Seasons hotel chain along with American tycoon Bill Gates. He is sole
owner of London’s landmark luxury hotel, The Savoy
No comments :
Post a Comment