Mohammed Hussien al Amoudi
by Engidu Woldie
ESAT News (November 8, 2017)
Overseas businesses owned by Mohammed Hussien al Amoudi, the Ethiopian born Saudi billionaire, who is among businessmen and princes arrested under Saudi’s anti- corruption measures, would not be affected by the crackdown that also aimed at freezing the assets of suspects, according to a spokesperson for the sheikh.
But his asset in Saudi Arabia has been frozen as per the Kingdom’s attorney general decision to freeze accounts of corruption suspects.
The arrest “is an internal matter for the kingdom and we have no further comment to make other than to say that the overseas businesses owned by the Sheikh remain unaffected by this development,” Tim Pendry, al Amoudi’s London-based spokesman said in a statement Monday.
The report by Bloomberg Politics also shades light on how and when al Amoudi joined the billionaires club in the Kingdom.
The report said the Sheikh moved to Saudi Arabia as a young man and made his first billion in the late 1980s through construction, aided by an early government contract to help build the country’s underground oil storage facility.
The billionaire has a business empire that stretches from Africa to Europe and Saudi Arabia. He also owns Preem AB, Sweden’s largest oil refinery.
In Ethiopia, he works closely with the TPLF oligarchy that controls the politics and the economy of the country. Gold mining, coffee, vast rice farm that feeds the Saudis and the middle east as well as construction are to name a few.
The third richest Arab in the Middle East, al Amoudi is also considered the second richest black person due to his Ethiopian ties. Born from an Ethiopian mother and Saudi father, Al Amoudi’s worth is 10.3 Billion, behind Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote whose worth is 13.8 Billion.