Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who recently was released after nearly three months in detention as part of a so-called anti-corruption purge, reportedly does not have the permission to travel outside of the kingdom.
Sources told Qatari newspaper al-Sharq on Monday that bin Talal, who had hoped to spend time in the south of France and also travel overseas to meet with his aides and advisers, has not received the necessary license to leave the kingdom, which has left him in “a state of gloom.”
The travel ban has led the prince into deactivating his Twitter account, where he has regularly commented on events in the past, according to the report.
Bin Talal, the chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, is one of the world’s richest men with assets valued by Bloomberg at $19 billion. His Riyadh-based investment holding company, owns stakes in hotels like The Four Seasons, Fairmont and Raffles, as well as companies such as News Corp., Disney, 21st Century Fox, Citigroup, GM, Twitter, and Apple.
Dozens of princes, ministers and former ministers were detained in late December 2017 on the order of Saudi Arabia’s so-called Anti-Corruption Committee headed by the Crown Prince, in a crackdown, which is widely believed to be aimed at consolidating his power.
The detained individuals faced allegations of money laundering, bribery, extorting officials and misappropriation of public funds for personal benefits.
Reports said the high-profile detainees, including bin Talal, were even subjected to torture in detention. The billionaire was said to have been beaten and hung upside down.
Bin Talal was freed in late January after he reached a financial settlement with the attorney general, said a Saudi official back then, without elaborating on the amount he had paid to secure his release
