Binladen Group could concede their shares to Saudi government

Saudi Binladin Group announced on Saturday that a number of its partners might concede their shares to the government as part of a financial reconciliation package, Alkhaleej Online reported.

The Saudi giant said in a statement that it is continuous in its work with the Saudi government, including construction at the grand mosques of Makkah and Medina.

It pointed out that the concessions came as part of a reconciliation programme with the government in light of the alleged “anti-corruption campaign” being carried out by Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman.

The Saudi government has so far obtained large sums from a number of businessmen who were arrested in return for their release from the makeshift prison at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh.

Read: Saudi Arabia to ease restrictions on foreign investment

On Wednesday, Saudi announced that it had taken up the administration of Binladin Group. This announcement came four months after it was acquitted of charges it faced following the collapse of a crane in Makkah which killed 108 people in 2015.

Following the incident, the Saudi government ended its contracts with the group and banned its board from travelling, causing losses of more than 100 billion Saudi riyals ($26.7 billion).

The group, which employs 220,000 workers, was forced to sack 90,000 workers.

Binladen Group was founded in 1931 by a Yemeni worker; it invested in construction contractions and became the largest such firm in the Kingdom.