Who Was Arrested And Where Is The Money? A Saudi Soap Opera

The five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is open for guests again (rooms: $650 per night). Last November a large group of Saudi royals and businessmen was summoned to this hotel. They thought they were attending a late-night meeting with Mohammed bin Salman (32), also known as MBS. He became the Crown Prince last June and is described as the power behind his father, King Salman (81).

Instead, the group was arrested and held in the hotel. A number of senior royals were beaten and tortured to reveal their bank account details. They required hospital treatment afterwards.

Saudi officials said that they aimed to seize $800 billion in cash and other assets from the 381 citizens. The crackdown would have been necessary to rein in the corruption that has left the kingdom with a $52 billion deficit. Later, the authorities said that over $106 billion had been seized.

While disappearances and arrests are common in the country (in October, more than 60 clerics, human rights activists, journalists and poets were detained too), the scope of these arrests is unprecedented.

Apparently, everyone has been released now, but the soap opera doesn’t end here. Journalists from Middle East Eye (MEE) have so far only identified 34 detainees—it’s unclear who the other 347 people are.

It’s also unlikely that the full amount of $106 billion has really been seized, according to the journalists’ sources. And there is still the missing answer to the question: where is the money now?

Finally, were the arrests really about corruption? Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and director of the Brookings Intelligence project says to MEE:

“This is about raising money for a country that has a severe economic problem.”

Until the next episode.