IslamicFinance.de

Some of Saudi Arabia's most powerful men were arrested in October as part of a fight against corruption. The government freezed the accounts of the more than three dozen men totalling $33 billion of net worth. The series of arrests has implicated the country's richest people, including Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Bakr Binladin, Mohammed Al Amoudi, Saleh Kamel and Nasser Al Tayyar. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is No. 50 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking of the world's 500 richest people, with $19 billion. Two of the four Saudis on the Bloomberg index haven't been detained, hotel magnate Mohamed bin Issa Al Jaber, who has an $8.3 billion fortune, and Prince Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Kabeer, the biggest individual shareholder in food processor Almarai Co., who has $4.7 billion.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal announced Wednesday his plan to give away his entire fortune in the coming years. Educated in California, Alwaleed is thought to be the 20th-richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg, with a fortune of $30.5 billion. He has pledged to give away even more than that, $32 billion, though no time frame was set. Alwaleed’s charity group, Alwaleed Philanthropies, has worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Carter Center, founded by Jimmy Carter. Alwaleed cites among his causes: health promotion, electricity to remote villages, building orphanages and schools, disaster relief and empowering women. Some have suggested that his emphasis on charity and women’s rights is a tactic to endear his ventures to Westerners. However, few deny his generosity.