The Saudi anti-corruption commission, overseen by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, is expecting to get from Prince al-Waleed bin Talal $6 billion in exchange for his freedom, Wall Street Journal reported.
Prince al-Waleed bin Talal had been rounded up alongside over 200 other princes, business tycoons and top officials on November 4,
Prince al-Waleed is one of the few top Saudi figures still held at Riyadh’s Ritz Carlton five-star hotel in the anti-corruption clean-up directed by the kingdom’s powerful Crown Prince.
The US-based WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter, noted that the demand is among the highest sought from those who have been arrested.
The 62-year prince who has investments in several international companies such as CityGroup Inc., Twitter Inc, Apple is reportedly negotiating with the government about accepting as payment for his release a large piece of his conglomerate, Kingdom Holding Co.
Kingdom Holding is listed on the Saudi stock exchange and has a market value of almost $9 billion.
AL-Waleed also ranks as World 57th richest person with an $18 billion fortune per Bloomberg’s index.
Several Princes and officials have been freed after striking settlement deals with authorities.
Saudi authorities are expecting to get $100 billion from the clean-up operation to close up the budget deficit.
