Bali mother, daughter duo rip off Saudi princess
A Bali mother, daughter duo is accused of fleecing millions of dollars from a member of one of the richest royal families on earth.
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A Saudi Arabian princess is at the centre of a $55 million Bali land scam.
Princess Lolowah bint Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia has Indonesian police pursuing a woman accused of fleecing millions of dollars from the royal, while another suspect is in custody.
The desert kingdom Princess has paid more than $55 million between April 2011 and September 2018 to buy land in Gianyar Regency, which is also home to Bali’s famous Eat Pray Love location of Ubud.
She planned to develop two tourist resorts Villa Kama and Amrita Tedja with her Indonesian partners.
The Princess also claims that she paid $740,000 to the alleged fraudsters – who have been identified by police as EMC and EAH – to buy a 1,600 sqm site – in Bali’s trendy Canggu.
Princess Lolowah is one 12 children fathered by Saudi’s King Faisal, who died in 1975.
He ruled the kingdom for just nine years before he was assassinated by his nephew.
The family is said to be worth more than $2.5 trillion, making it among the world’s richest, if it is not in fact the richest, family on earth.
Indonesia’s National Police’s General Crime Unit’s Chief, Brig. Gen. Ferdy Sambo suspect a mother and daughter team is behind the deception.
“We arrested suspect EAH – aka Eka – in a hotel in Jakarta last week but we are still pursuing her mother. We are sure she is in Indonesia but have alerted immigration to prevent her from leaving the country,” Ferdy told News Corp.
Police have confiscated land ownership documents, evidence of money transfers and prestige cars including a Jaguar an Toyota Alphard from the suspect.
“Both suspects face charges of money laundering. They still own the properties in question and another party – a company – also has a claim on the Canggu land,” Ferdy said.
“We have confirmed that the Canggu land owner had no intention to sell”.
Police believe that EMC, who is the mother in the alleged crime duo and remains on the run, is the ‘reservoir’ for the funds.
“Princess Lolowah has suffered at least Rp 512 billion ($55.3 million) in financial losses,” he added.
The Princess’ lawyer Mr Wayan Mudita said that the Gianyar land was purchased in Eka’s name because the Princess had not set up a company to hold the purchases.
“In the beginning there were two plots purchased in 2011. Buying continued until 2014 when they had a total of seven plots over more than one hectare,” he said.
“The company was established in 2013 and construction began on two villas. Our client transferred $US36 million ($A53.2 million) from 2011 to 2018. In 2018, my client also transferred $US500,000 ($A740,000) to purchase land in Canggu to build restaurants.”
Last year associates of the princess visited the Bali development sites and found them devoid of builders or contractors, despite assurances from her Indonesian partners that building would be complete by 2015. This pushed the Princess to take action.
Mr Mudita said last year he invited Eka to ‘clarify’ the situation but the woman quickly disappeared.
Indonesia’s public valuer has appraised Gianyar land to be worth $6.5 million.
“This is when we reported it to the National Police Headquarters,” Mr Mudita said.
Princess Lolowah, who is a well-known campaigner for women’s right in Saudi Arabia, wants her money back and for the suspects to be punished.
“This is not good for the investment image of Indonesia,” the lawyer said.
Indonesia’s strict foreign investment laws prohibit foreigners from owning freehold land.
Originally published as Bali mother, daughter duo rip off Saudi princess