Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia's anti-corruption committee arrested around 200 princes, businessmen and ex-ministers ... but the kingdom seems to be offering them a deal that guarantees freedom at a hefty price.
Authorities in the kingdom are asking them to "pay for their freedom." According to The Financial Times, the Saudi government is demanding up to 70 percent of the detained individuals' personal wealth.
If they agree to the deal, the billions of dollars will be injected into the country's cash flow.
Saudi Arabia's economy is dependent on oil, and low oil prices have taken their toll on the kingdom. Riyadh's budget deficit reached a record high of $98 billion in 2015. Last year it stood at $79 billion.
This comes after King Salman issued a royal decree to set up an anti-corruption committee
Earlier this month, King Salman issued a royal decree in a bid to combat corruption in the kingdom.
Hours later, upon orders from the committee headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, several prominent Saudi princes, businessmen and ministers were detained.
The committee also announced that it is reexamining the 2009 Jeddah floods and investigating the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus, which emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012.
The prominent individuals have been housed in five-star hotels across the country, many at the luxurious Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, according to The Guardian.
Prominent billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, known as the "richest Arab," was among those targeted in the corruption purge
According to Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star, two major Beirut-based hotels owned by the bin Talal are up for sale.
The newspaper cited an undisclosed source familiar with the case and reported that a Lebanese bank has been commissioned to find potential buyers for the Four Seasons Hotel and Movenpick Hotel in Beirut.
The reasons behind the potential sale of Prince Alwaleed's assets in Lebanon were not disclosed. However, both five-star hotels are amongst the key Lebanese assets of the Saudi-owned Kingdom Holding Co.
Last week, the kingdom's Attorney General Saud Al Mojeb revealed that more than $100 billion in funds may have been misused. This was followed by the freezing of an estimated 1,700 bank accounts.
"The financial value of these decades-long practices and misappropriated and unused public funds may exceed $100 billion, according to preliminary investigations," said Al Mojeb, according to Gulf News.
