Prince Alwaleed supports crackdown on corruption, despite his detention last year
The Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said that he supported the kingdom’s sweeping crackdown on corruption, in which he was detained along with more than 200 other high-profile figures.
“I am for the anti-corruption clampdown that took place in Saudi Arabia. Now unfortunately, I was added to that group, but fortunately I am out of it right now and life is back to normal,” Prince Alwaleed told Bloomberg.
“I am not a person who is going to come and say, you know, ‘I forgive but don’t forget’. I say ‘I forgive and I forget’.”
Prince Alwaleed, one of the country’s most prominent businessmen, was released in January after more than two months in detention at the opulent Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh.
Bloomberg said that Prince Alwaleed had confirmed an agreement was reached between him and the Saudi government, the details of which have yet to be disclosed.
The prince continued to maintain his innocence, saying in an interview with Reuters that his detention was a misunderstanding.
Prince Alwaleed has also said that he expected to keep full control of his global investment company Kingdom Holding, and that he supported modernisation reforms launched by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Directly or indirectly through Kingdom Holding, Prince Alwaleed holds stakes in companies such as Twitter and Citigroup, and has invested in top hotels including the George V in Paris and the Plaza in New York.
His net worth has been estimated by Forbes magazine at US$17 billion (Dh62.43bn).
More than 200 royals, officials and businessmen were arrested in November as part of a move launched by Prince Mohammed to fight corruption in the country.