Saudi Prince Alwaleed rape case reopened by Spain

Spain reportedly moved to reopen a rape case against a Saudi prince who is one of the world's richest men.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, is the 26th richest man in the world with a $19.4 billion net worth, according to Forbes. Abdulaziz is the largest individual stakeholder in Citigroup and the second-largest investor in News Corporation, The New York Times reports.

He has even been called the Arabian Warren Buffett.

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The case against Prince Alwaleed involves accusations that he raped a 20-year-old model, identified by her middle name Soraya, on a yacht in the Spanish Mediterranean in August 2008. The model said she was raped after being drugged.

The case was closed in 2010 after a judge on the island of Ibiza ruled there was a lack of evidence. However, a provincial court then ruled on appeal that the judge should resume investigating the case and summon the prince to appear in court.

"Nobody was even questioned at the time, which is unbelievable when you consider the seriousness of the crime and the evidence that has been gathered. I do believe that the authorities in Ibiza were just too afraid to take on such a very powerful man," the model's lawyer, Javier Beloqui, told the Times.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Prince Alwaleed has teamed up with Bloomberg to provide a new Arabic language satellite news.

The prince said the Alarab channel will focus on "the important shifts taking place across the Arab world, with an emphasis on freedom of speech and freedom of press."