Al Sanea kept secret ledger, says court filing

Maan al Sanea, a prominent Saudi businessman, kept records of a multibillion-dollar fraud in a secret set of books referred to as “Ledger 3”, according to documents filed in a New York court last week.

Mr al Sanea, the chairman and founder of the Saad Group, a large Saudi conglomerate, is accused of siphoning an estimated US$10 billion (Dh36.73bn) from Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi and Brothers (AHAB), another Saudi conglomerate.

The court documents claim he committed the fraud when he headed AHAB’s financial services arm, Money Exchange, and used ledger 3 to hide the transfers for decades. Mr al Sanea was unavailable for comment.