Alwaght- A senior Saudi prince Miteb bin Abdullah, once considered a leading contender to the throne, has been freed by the regime in Riyadh after agreeing to pay over $1 billion in apparent blackmail and arm-twisting tactics.
Miteb, 65, son of the late King Abdullah and former head of the elite National Guard, was among dozens of royal family members, high officials and senior businessmen rounded up this month in a crackdown aimed at strengthening the power of 32-year old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The official, who is involved in the crackdown and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Miteb was released on Tuesday after reaching “an acceptable settlement agreement”. The official said he believed the agreed sum to be the equivalent of over $1 billion, Reuters reported.
According to the official, Prince Miteb was accused of embezzlement, hiring ghost employees and awarding contracts to his own firms, including a deal for walkie talkies and bulletproof military gear.
Prince Miteb is the first senior figure known to be released among those detained. Around 200 people in total have been questioned in the crackdown, authorities said earlier this month.
Saudi authorities, who estimate they could eventually recover around $100 billion from princes, ex-military officials and businessmen detained at Riyadh’s luxurious Ritz Carlton hotel. The detained individuals are being asked to hand over assets and cash in return for their freedom.
The crackdown has led to the detention of hundreds of royals, ministers and the country’s richest magnates, including Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire, Waleed al-Ibrahim, the founder of Middle East Broadcasting Center, which owns the Saudi satellite television channel Al Arabiya, Bakr bin Laden, chairman of the Saudi Binladin construction group and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a former Saudi ambassador to Washington and confidant of former US president George W Bush.
The purge, which follows an earlier roundup of Muslim clerics, writers, economists and public figures, is creating panic in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, particularly among those associated with the old regime of King Abdullah, who died in 2015, with power then passing to his half-brother, King Salman.
Many fear the primary purpose of the crackdown is a move by Bin Salman to eliminate all rivals both inside and outside the House of Saud before he ascends powers after the expected abdication of his 81-year-old father.
