Woman gave SR145,000 for mosque never built

A Saudi female university professor accused a local mosque Imam of stealing her money after she found out that he had not built a mosque although she paid him SR145,000 (Dh144,000) for its construction nearly four years ago.

Iman Al Shayei said she transferred that sum to the Sheikh in 2008 to fund the construction of a mosque in Yemen but she had just discovered that no mosque had been built and the Sheikh did not return the money to her.

Quoted by the London-based Saudi Arabic language daily Al Hayat, Shayei threatened to sue the Imam if he fails to return the money.

“After I found out that no mosque has been built in that location in Yemen, I sent him a letter asking him to give me my money back but he did not,” she said.

The paper did not identify the Sheikh but said he had promised Shayei and her husband many times to provide them with designs for the planned mosque.

It published a copy of a bank receipt showing the sum was paid by Shayei to the Sheikh, whose name was apparently erased by the paper.

In another report, the Arabic language daily Alsaudeh said the Imam had agreed to return all the money to Al Shayei.

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