The Diriyah Mirage: One Entrepreneur's Descent into a Judicial Labyrinth

In the shadow of the historic Jax neighborhood in Diriyah, where the golden sands of the Riyadh province meet the ambitious architecture of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, Zaid Mohammed S. Asbaih saw more than just a real estate opportunity. He saw a future.

But what began as a partnership fueled by the promise of national renewal has devolved into a harrowing odyssey of alleged corruption, judicial manipulation, and financial ruin. Today, Zaid is a man in exile, watching from afar as the 9 million Saudi riyals he invested in the “Diriyah Hills Compound” (DHC) remain beyond his reach, seized, he claims, through the raw power of influence and a broken legal system.

The Promise of Jax

In 2016, the Jax neighborhood was home to an abandoned, neglected complex of 158 residential units. For Zaid, a Saudi citizen “passionate about work and productivity,” it was the perfect canvas. He entered into a partnership with Abdullah Nasser Abdulaziz Al-Shathri, a man whose family name carried significant weight; his brother, Saad Al-Shathri, is a member of the Council of Senior Scholars and an advisor to the Royal Court.

The deal was simple: Al-Shathri provided the site, and Zaid provided everything else, the capital for renovations, the operating costs, and the management expertise. For four years, Zaid labored to turn the “mirage” into a reality, successfully leasing units to major entities like NEOM and the Red Sea project, eventually driving the annual revenue to 7 million riyals.

The Midnight Expulsion

The dream shattered on March 28, 2020. Amidst the global silence of the COVID-19 lockdown, Zaid says he was “thuggishly” and “forcibly” expelled from the project. He alleges that Al-Shathri, accompanied by security guards and others, seized his office, his accounting books, and even his personal belongings.

“I was a victim of overconfidence and trust in those who do not deserve it,” Zaid reflects. But the physical expulsion was only the beginning. What followed was a legal battle spanning six cases and five years, a journey Zaid describes as “judicial chaos”.

A Labyrinth of Rulings

Zaid’s account of his time in the Saudi court system reads like a legal thriller. He details a series of procedural anomalies:

• The Embezzlement Charge: Al-Shathri initially accused Zaid of embezzling 7 million riyals. Despite an expert report concluding there was no embezzlement, the courts allegedly used “procedural tricks” to keep the pressure on Zaid.
• The “Conclusive Oath”: In a pivotal Appeal Court session, Zaid claims the judge forced an “oath of finality”. Zaid alleges the court forged his statement to say he agreed that this oath would waive all his rights, a claim he vehemently denies and refused to certify.
• The Disappearing Recordings: When Zaid appealed to the Supreme Judicial Council to review the session recordings, he was met with a wall of contradictions. One official told him the recordings were with the Council; another said the court refused to send them; a third laughed and said they were “lost” because the system simply didn’t record them.

The Cost of Truth

The financial toll is staggering: 9 million riyals in lost capital and years of unpaid profits. But for Zaid, the personal cost is higher. He was forced to leave Saudi Arabia to claim his rights “without being harmed or exposed to retaliation”.

His struggle has become a warning to others. “If this is the case for a citizen investor,” Zaid asks in his appeal to King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, “how much more so for a foreign investor?”

As the sun sets over the Diriyah Hills, the compound Zaid built stands as a testament to his labor, and a monument to a partnership that ended in a bitter, unresolved exile. For Zaid, the quest continues, not just for his money, but for the integrity of the system he once trusted.