Saudi Prince Alwaleed gives tour of his hotel suite

Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, detained in the kingdom's sweeping crackdown on corruption, has been released from detention, family sources said on Saturday, more than two months after he was taken into custody.

His release came hours after he said in an exclusive interview at the opulent Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh that he expected to be cleared of any wrongdoing and be released from custody within days.

Family sources said Prince Alwaleed was released on Saturday.
"He has he arrived home," one said.

Saudi officials could not immediately be reached for comment and the terms of his release were not immediately clear.

It was the first time the prince, one of the nation's most prominent businessmen, has spoken publicly since his detention.

Prince Alwaleed said he was continuing to maintain his innocence of any corruption in talks with authorities. He said he expected to keep full control of his global investment firm Kingdom Holding Co without being required to give up assets to the government.

He described his confinement as a misunderstanding and said he supports reform efforts by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MbS.

Prince Alwaleed was an early advocate of women's employment in Saudi Arabia and a lifting of the ban on women driving.

"There are no charges. There are just some discussions between me and the government," he said in the interview, conducted shortly after midnight. "I believe we are on the verge of finishing everything within days."

"I have nothing to hide at all. I'm so comfortable, I'm so relaxed. I shave here, like at home. My barber comes here. I'm like at home, frankly speaking," he said.

"I told the government I'd stay as much as they want, because I want the truth to come out on all my dealings and on all things that are around me."

A 30-minute interview, including a tour of his suite, was granted largely in order to disprove rumours of mistreatment and of being moved from the hotel to a prison.

Prince Alwaleed showed off the comforts of his gold-accented private office, dining room and kitchen, which was fully stocked with his preferred vegetarian meals.

In the corner of his office sat tennis shoes, which he said he used regularly for exercise. A television played business news programmes, and a mug with an image of his own face on it was perched on the desk.

The release of Prince Alwaleed, whose net worth has been estimated by Forbes magazine at $17 billion, is likely to reassure investors in his global business empire as well as in the Saudi economy broadly.

Directly or indirectly through Kingdom Holding, he holds stakes in firms such as Twitter Inc and Citigroup Inc, and has invested in top hotels including the George V in Paris and the Plaza in New York.

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