The government recently launched a major project of establishing an MVR 8.8 billion financial free zone in the Maldives. The enormity of the project made waves amongst the public, with interest further piqued when it was announced that the project is being conducted in collaboration with a royal company of Qatar.

After the launch, other major investors presented letters of commitment towards the project to President Dr Mohamed Muizzu.

However, once the President's Office website wrote about the Saudi Prince who was amongst these dignitaries, questions began to arise within the public, on both social and mainstream media.

The day after the ceremony, the participants of the project held individual official meetings with the President at the President's Office. This included Saudi Arabia's "His Royal Highness Prince Fahad Saud Alshalan".

"His Royal Highness Prince Fahad Saud Alshalan of Saudi Arabia, expressed his commitment to supporting the Maldives’ development efforts and conveyed his interest in building further cooperation in mutually beneficial areas. He commended President Dr Muizzu’s vision for the country’s progress and expressed willingness to strengthen bilateral relations across various sectors," the President's Office website stated, following the meeting.

Information that has since come to light bring into question whether the visitor was, in fact, a Saudi royal prince.

A simple Google search of Fahad Saul Alshalan does not bring up many results.

It shows that he was a Director at a company registered in the UK, Picnic Ventures Ltd, from 2019 to 2020.

Then, the Clay website shows that he was a co-founder of a company called Agns - A Good Night's Sleep. He is described as a Saudi entrepreneur, angel investor and investment adviser.

The website then goes on to say "It's worth noting that while there are similarities in name and nationality, this Fahad Saud Alshalan should not be confused with Prince Fahad Al Saud, who is a separate individual with a background in technology and social entrepreneurship".

Fahad Saud Alshalan is not directly a member of the ruling Saud family. It has been learned that he is a distant relative of the royal family through maternal lineage. Hence, although he may be termed a Prince, he cannot be addressed as 'His Royal Highness'.

A source close to the matter said that the issue here is that he was address as 'His Royal Highness' instead of what should have been 'His Highness'.

People raised questions about the authenticity of the 'Prince' when the Saudi Embassy did not repost the President's Office posts about meeting with him.

However, it has been said that the reason for this is that Alshalan came to Maldives on a personal capacity through his private business.

"They came to Maldives through a private project. As this are not projects directly linked to the Saudi government, the embassy will not comment officially on an error on Maldives' part," a Foreign Service expert said.

Now, speculation has arisen whether Alshalan is a scammer. It is difficult to say this as there is no solid evidence to label him as a scammer. This is because there are over 4000 princes in the Saudi Royal Family, with information on many not easily available on the internet.

Regardless, people continue to question why a person of questionable credence was able to receive an audience with the President. Especially when the person in question is said to have visited the country on his personal capacity, with no official Saudi government title, and yet, discussed strengthening bilateral ties between Maldives and Saudi Arabia.

While people describe this as a major failure on the part of the Foreign Ministry, it has been learned that the visit was arranged outside normal diplomatic protocols, in a bid by the Ministry of Finance and MMA to bring in foreign investors.

The government of Maldives is yet to comment on the matter.