A variety of discrete and low key print media articles are reporting that super wealthy art collector Saud bin Mohammed al-Thani has lost his position as head of the Qatari National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage and may even be under house arrest.
The Art Newspaper reports:

According to reports published in Qatari newspapers, the Qatari Audit Bureau is now investigating a �serious misuse and misappropriation of public funds.� The Arabic language Al Sharq reported that a �senior government body� has spent one billion Qatari Riyals ($275 million) on one of its activities. One official was under preventative detention and two other people involved are out of the country, the newspaper said.

Qatar�s vast wealth and the Sheikh�s take-no-prisoner approach to auction bidding have shaken the global art scene.
According to a Tuesday March 8 New York Times posting:

By some estimates, Sheikh Saud has spent close to $1.5 billion on art in recent years�"Serious bidders would quit at the sight of him," one art expert said.

According the blog Cronaca:

In 2003, the royal family of Qatar was by itself the UK�s largest trading partner in arts and antiquities, behind only the US and Switzerland.

In an Ashcroftian twist, the Sheikh�s troubles may not be totally criminal, as his collecting tastes have included photographic and sculptural art celebrating female nudity.
According The Art Newspaper:

In June 2002, the Sheikh bought the so-called Jenkins Venus, a Roman marble statue from Newby Hall, Yorkshire, for �7,926,650 [$15,260,872.50] at Christie�s in London�the highest price ever paid at auction for any antiquity.

The Sheikh has graced this blog here, here, here and here.

Modified Image: Georgina Adam