Future Saudi king tightens grip on power with arrests including Prince Alwaleed

Future Saudi king tightens grip on power with arrests including Prince Alwaleed Stephen Kalin, Katie Paul RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s future king has tightened his grip on power through an anti-corruption purge by arresting royals, ministers and investors including billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal who is one of the kingdom’s most prominent businessmen. Prince Alwaleed, a nephew of the king and owner of investment firm Kingdom Holding 4280.SE, invests in firms such as Citigroup (C.N) and Twitter (TWTR.N). He was among 11 princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers detained, three senior officials told Reuters on Sunday. The purge against the kingdom’s political and business elite also targeted the head of the National Guard Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, who was detained and replaced as minister of the powerful National Guard by Prince Khaled bin Ayyaf. The allegations against Prince Alwaleed include money laundering, bribery and extorting officials, one official told Reuters, while Prince Miteb is accused of embezzlement, hiring ghost employees and awarding contracts to his own companies including a $10 billion deal for walkie talkies and bulletproof military gear worth billions of Saudi riyals. Sponsored News of the purge came soon after King Salman decreed late on Saturday the creation of an anti-corruption committee chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his 32-year-old favorite son who has amassed power since rising from obscurity three years ago. The new body was given broad powers to investigate cases, issue arrest warrants and travel restrictions, and seize assets. “The homeland will not exist unless corruption is uprooted and the corrupt are held accountable,” the royal decree said. Analysts said the arrests were another pre-emptive measure by the crown prince to remove powerful figures as he exerts control over the world’s leading oil exporter. The roundup recalls the palace coup in June through which he ousted his elder cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, as heir to the throne and interior minister. MbS, as he is known, was expected to follow at least by removing Prince Miteb from leadership of the National Guard, a pivotal power base rooted in the kingdom’s tribes. Over the past year, MbS has become the ultimate decision-maker for the kingdom’s military, foreign, economic and social policies, causing resentment among parts of the Al Saud dynasty frustrated by his meteoric rise. Saudi Arabia’s stock index .TASI was dragged down briefly but recovered to close higher as some investors bet the crackdown could bolster reforms in the long run. The royal decree said the arrests were in response to “exploitation by some of the weak souls who have put their own interests above the public interest, in order to, illicitly, accrue money.” REFORM AGENDA The line between public funds and royal money is not always clear in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy ruled by an Islamic system in which most law is not systematically codified and no elected parliament exists. WikiLeaks cables have detailed the huge monthly stipends that every Saudi royal receives as well as various money-making schemes some have used to finance lavish lifestyles. Analysts said the purge aimed to go beyond corruption and aimed to remove potential opposition to Prince Mohammed’s ambitious reform agenda, which is widely popular with Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning youth population but faces resistance from some of the old guard more comfortable with the kingdom’s traditions of incremental change and rule by consensus. In September, the king announced that a ban on women driving would be lifted, while Prince Mohammed is trying to break decades of conservative tradition by promoting public entertainment and visits by foreign tourists. The crown prince has also slashed state spending in some areas and plans a big sale of state assets, including floating part of state oil giant Saudi Aramco [IPO-ARMO.SE] on international markets. FILE PHOTO - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October 24, 2017. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed Prince Mohammed has also led Saudi Arabia into a two-year-old war in Yemen, where the government says it is fighting Iran-aligned militants, and a row with neighboring Qatar, which it accuses of backing terrorists, a charge Doha denies. Detractors of the crown prince say both moves are dangerous adventurism. The most recent crackdown breaks with the tradition of consensus within the ruling family, wrote James Dorsey, a senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. “Prince Mohammed, rather than forging alliances, is extending his iron grip to the ruling family, the military, and the National Guard to counter what appears to be more widespread opposition within the family as well as the military to his reforms and the Yemen war,” he said. Scholar Joseph Kechichian said the interests of the Al Saud, however, would remain protected. “Both King Salman and heir apparent Mohammed bin Salman are fully committed to them. What they wish to instill, and seem determined to execute, is to modernize the ruling establishment, not just for the 2030 horizon but beyond it too,” he said. Many ordinary Saudis praised the crackdown as long-awaited. OPULENT HOTEL Slideshow (6 Images) A Saudi official said former Riyadh Governor Prince Turki bin Abdullah was detained on accusations of corruption in the Riyadh Metro project and taking advantage of his influence to award contracts to his own companies. Former Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf, a board member of national oil giant Saudi Aramco, was also detained, accused of embezzlement related to the expansion of Mecca’s Grand Mosque and taking advantage of his position and inside information to purchase lands, the official added. Other detainees include ousted Economy Minister Adel Fakieh, who once played a major role in drafting MbS’ reforms, and Khalid al-Tuwaijiri, who headed the Royal Court under the late King Abdullah. People on Twitter applauded the arrests of certain ministers, with some comparing them to “the night of the long knives”, a violent purge of political leaders in Nazi Germany in 1934. Bakr bin Laden, chairman of the big Saudi Binladin construction group, and Alwaleed al-Ibrahim, owner of the MBC television network, were also detained. At least some of the detainees were held at the opulent Ritz-Carlton hotel in the diplomatic quarter of Riyadh, said sources in contact with the government and guests whose plans had been disrupted The hotel’s exterior gate was shuttered on Sunday morning and guards turned away a Reuters reporter, saying it had been closed for security reasons, although private cars and ambulances were seen entering through a rear entrance. The hotel and an adjacent facility were the site of an international conference promoting Saudi Arabia as an investment destination just 10 days ago attended by at least one of those now being held for questioning. The detentions follow a crackdown in September on political opponents of Saudi Arabia’s rulers that saw some 30 clerics, intellectuals and activists detained. Prince Alwaleed, a flamboyant character, has sometimes used his prominence as an investor to aim barbs at the kingdom’s rulers. In December 2015, he called then-U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump a “disgrace to all America” and demanded on Twitter that he withdraw from the election. Trump responded by tweeting: “Dopey Prince @Alwaleed_Talal wants to control our U.S. politicians with daddy’s money. Can’t do it when I get elected.” His father, Prince Talal, is considered one of the most vocal supporters of reform in the ruling Al Saud family, having pressed for a constitutional monarchy decades ago. Additional reporting by Reem Shamseddine in Khobar and Rania El Gamal and Tom Arnold and Sylvia Westall in Dubai; Editing by Edmund Blair and Peter Cooney ========================= GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia shares stumble from decade highs, oil hits 2-year top on Saudi purge SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares stepped away from recent decade highs on Monday while the U.S. dollar staged a broad-based rally and oil jumped to a more than two-year peak as Saudi Arabia’s crown prince cemented his power through an anti-corruption crackdown. FILE PHOTO: An investor looks at an electronic screen at a brokerage house in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, January 26, 2016. REUTERS/China Daily Oil prices hit their highest since July 2015 as Mohammed bin Salman’s purge led to arrests of royals, ministers and investors including prominent business billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal. [O/R] The dollar climbed against the yen to an eight-month peak after a string of U.S. data bolstered views the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates next month and tighten further in 2018. JPY= Near-term sentiment will be directed by news related to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Asian tour this week. In his second day in Japan, Trump ramped up his tough rhetoric against North Korea, saying the United States and its allies are prepared to defend freedom. The U.S. President wants a united front with the leaders of Japan and South Korea before he visits Beijing to make the case to Chinese President Xi Jinping that more needs to be done to rein in Pyongyang. Trump also plans to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during his 12-day trip. With traders on edge about the outcome of these high-stake meetings, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS slipped 0.7 percent to 552.8 from Friday’s top of 557.9 which was the highest since Nov. 2007. South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 fell 0.5 percent. Australian shares were off 0.1 percent but stayed within striking distance of a more than two-year peak set on Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index .HSI skidded 1 percent. Japan's Nikkei .N225 was a tad softer too but hovered around a 21-year peak. The losses in Asian shares came despite gains in Wall Street on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI up 0.1 percent, the S&P 500 .SPX gaining 0.31 percent and the Nasdaq .IXIC adding 0.74 percent. Investors now awaited progress on U.S. tax reforms which, if passed in its current form, will add $1.5 trillion to the U.S. budget deficit over the next ten years, said Elias Haddad, currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank. “While this pro-growth tax package is dollar supportive, it is still unclear if the package will have enough Republican support to pass through Congress by year-end or Q1 2018,” Haddad added. But for now, sentiment towards the greenback was still positive with leveraged funds paring bearish bets to be net long for the first time since late July. Dollar buying was broad-based against all the major currencies. [IMM/FX] Strong economic data has helped boost the outlook for the greenback. U.S. non-manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to its highest since 2005, figures out on Friday showed. New orders for U.S.-made goods gained for the second straight month in September and orders for core capital goods surpassed expectations. The dollar index .DXY held near four-month highs against a basket of currencies, while the euro EUR= trod water to loiter around its lowest since July. In energy markets, Brent futures LCOc1 were up 23 cents at $62.30 a barrel, the highest since July 2015. U.S. crude CLc1 added 17 cents to 55.81. Bin Salman’s reforms include a plan to list parts of giant state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco next year, and a higher oil price is seen as beneficial for the market capitalization of the future listed company. Spot gold XAU= was a touch soft at $1,268.34 an ounce. ===================== Oil hits two-year high on Saudi purge, world shares retreat Ritvik Carvalho 5 Min Read LONDON (Reuters) - Oil jumped to its highest in over two years on Monday as Saudi Arabia’s crown prince cemented his power through a crackdown on corruption, while world shares eased a notch and major currencies traded in tight ranges. FILE PHOTO: An investor looks at an electronic screen at a brokerage house in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, January 26, 2016. REUTERS/China Daily Oil prices reached their highest since July 2015 as Mohammed bin Salman’s purge led to arrests of royals, ministers and investors including prominent billionaire investor Alwaleed bin Talal. [O/R] The news stirred concerns of Middle Eastern money pulling out of global financial markets. A weekend call by China’s central bank governor for tougher financial regulation also hit investor sentiment. Brent futures LCOc1 were up 32 cents at $62.39 a barrel, the highest since July 2015. U.S. crude CLc1 added 20 cents to 55.91, both up half a percent. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 47 countries was 0.1 percent lower. .MIWO00000PUS European shares fell in early deals following weaker trading in Asia and earnings disappointments weighed. The pan-European STOXX 600 was 0.1 percent lower by 0843 GMT. For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock markets see reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageId=livemarkets Shares in French hotel group Accor (ACCP.PA) fell 1.7 percent at the open, the biggest of the CAC 40 fallers, after its third biggest shareholder Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was arrested in the Saudi Arabian crackdown. Prince Alwaleed, a nephew of the king and owner of investment firm Kingdom Holding 4280.SE, invests in firms such as Citigroup (C.N) and Twitter (TWTR.N). He was among 11 princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers detained, three senior officials told Reuters on Sunday. RBC Capital Markets said in a note that although the “purge represents a stunning political development in Saudi Arabia,” it expected “no immediate changes” in the oil policy of Saudi Arabia, which is the world’s biggest exporter of crude oil. “(Mohammed bin Salman) seems strongly committed to anchoring the OPEC agreement deep into 2018 and moving ahead with the Aramco sale,” RBC said. Prince Mohammed’s reforms include a plan to list parts of giant state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco next year, and a higher oil prices is seen as beneficial for the market capitalization of the future listed company. Earlier in Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS slipped 0.2 percent to drift away from Friday’s top of 557.9, the highest since November 2007. South Korea's KOSPI .KS11, which hit a record high last week, skidded 0.6 percent early on before paring losses to 0.3 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index .HSI fell 0.2 percent. The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index .HSCE lost 0.9 percent. Japan's Nikkei .N225 eked out a small gain to hover around a 21-year peak. CURRENCIES TIGHT The dollar was little changed after investors took profits on its best weekly performance this year, with wariness about the status of the U.S. economy and tax reform plans setting the tone. It briefly popped to a eight-month high against the Japanese yen JPY=EBS in Asian trades but, with last week's U.S. jobs data having been relatively underwhelming, London-based traders were a bit more cautious. The index that measures the greenback against a basket of currencies was less than 0.1 percent lower in morning European trading. .DXY Sentiment towards the greenback was still positive with leveraged funds paring bearish bets to be net long for the first time since late July. [IMM/FX] Related Video “The only reason why investors are not selling the dollar aggressively is because (of) uncertainty around the tax plan progress even though the bond market is flashing a warning sign,” said Viraj Patel, an FX strategist at ING in London. The euro was flat at $1.16100. EUR=EBS The spread between two-year and ten-year U.S. yields at their narrowest in more than a decade. US2YT=TWEB US10YT=TWEB Spot gold XAU= was steady at $1,271.50 an ounce.

Saudi billionaire sells Toronto Four Seasons to Pakistani-American

Sun Oct 2, 2016 | 7:36 AM EDT Saudi's Kingdom Holding sells Four Seasons Toronto for C$225 million Saudi's Kingdom Holding sells Four Seasons Toronto Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding 4280.SE, the investment firm owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said on Sunday it had sold the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto for a gross price of 225 million Canadian dollars ($171.8 million). The property was sold to family investment vehicles related to Shahid Khan, Pakistani-American founder of automobile parts maker Flex-N-Gate Group and owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars American football team and London's Fulham Football Club. The sale occurred as a weak Canadian dollar increases interest among foreign investors eager to diversify their holdings with Canadian assets including real estate. ADVERTISEMENT . Canada's KingSett Real Estate Growth LP and InnVest REIT INN_u.TO bought 80 percent of another iconic downtown Toronto hotel, the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, for C$186.5 million early last year. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, in which Kingdom Holding owns 47.5 percent alongside a similar stake held by Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment, will continue to operate the Four Seasons Toronto. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Toby Chopra) ===================== Saudi billionaire sells Toronto Four Seasons to Pakistani-American By AFP Published: October 2, 2016 73 SHARES Share Tweet Email Kingdom Holding Company sold the hotel for 225 million Canadian dollars to Shahid Khan. PHOTO: REUTERS Kingdom Holding Company sold the hotel for 225 million Canadian dollars to Shahid Khan. PHOTO: REUTERS Kingdom Holding Company sold the hotel for 225 million Canadian dollars to Shahid Khan. PHOTO: REUTERS PHOTO: Reuters . RIYADH: Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s company has sold the luxury Four Seasons hotel in Toronto for $170 million, it said on Sunday. Inside the world’s most expensive hotel suite Kingdom Holding Company said it sold the hotel for 225 million Canadian dollars (152 million euros) to Shahid Khan, the Pakistani-American businessman who founded auto parts maker Flex-N-Gate and owns English Premier League club Fulham. KHC said it had made a profit of 17 million Canadian dollars from the sale of the hotel, which it bought four years ago for 200 million Canadian dollars. Saudi billionaire prince trolls Trump on Twitter “This transaction marks yet another success for KHC’s value realisation strategy from our high-quality hospitality investments,” said Prince Alwaleed. “We are particularly pleased to be passing ownership of this property to Mr. Shahid Khan who is known for his passion for the Four Seasons brand,” he said in a statement. 30 months on, Saudi $1.5b gift to Pakistan unspent “Kingdom continues to be a stakeholder in this asset through our interest in the management company Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts which will continue to operate the hotel.” Prince Alwaleed owns 95 percent of KHC, a vast global investor with shares in the Euro Disney theme park, Apple, News Corporation and the US banking giant, Citigroup. The company also owns a string of luxury hotels including the George V in Paris.

Billionaire Saudi prince grilled in UK court over Gaddafi jet

Billionaire Saudi prince grilled in UK court over Gaddafi jet Mon, Jul 01 10:44 AM EDT 1 of 2 By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - A billionaire Saudi prince told a London court on Monday that "each dollar counts" as he was cross-examined over his sale of an opulent private jet to Libya's former leader Muammar Gaddafi. The appearance by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, was a rare instance of a senior Saudi royal being subjected to a hostile public grilling. The prince is being sued by Daad Sharab, a Jordanian businesswoman who says she was not paid a promised $10 million commission for brokering the sale of the jet to Gaddafi, which was completed in 2006 for $120 million after years of delays. At number 26 on the Forbes global ranking of billionaires, Prince Alwaleed is worth $20 billion according to the U.S. magazine and closer to $30 billion by his own estimate. At one point when asked in court about a $500,000 commission he had paid Sharab for a previous Libyan deal, it was suggested to him that this was a small amount relative to his fortune. "Each dollar counts for me," the prince responded. He told the court he had asked Sharab to "open the door" to Gaddafi over the jet sale but had never agreed a figure for her commission. He said he did not pay her anything in the end since in the course of the sale, she had "moved to the Libyan camp". The prince was addressed as "Your Highness" by his lawyer and by Judge Peter Smith, but his royal status did not shield him from the robust questioning style of Sharab's lawyer, Clive Freedman, who accused him of minimizing Sharab's role, contradicting himself and evading questions. "Would you please answer my question? I have asked it twice and I will ask it again," Freedman told the prince at one point. BRIBE The Airbus A340 at the center of the dispute was used by Gaddafi in 2009 to pick up Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi when he was freed from a Scottish jail. In 2011, it became a trophy for rebels who toppled Gaddafi and were photographed on its silver-colored leather sofas. The prince said the jet, which boasted a king-size bed and a meeting room with a throne-like leather armchair, was only one item on a huge business agenda he had with the Libyan leader. "I used to call him personally by the way," he told the court, saying that in the era when Gaddafi sought international rehabilitation, he had seen Prince Alwaleed as someone who could help him bridge the gap between the Arab world and the West. The prince said the sale of the Airbus had run into trouble because after the Libyans had paid him an initial $70 million in 2003, Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam, a cousin of Gaddafi, demanded a bribe before arranging the payment of the remaining $50 million. The prince refused to pay and kept the plane in Riyadh, leading to several years of deadlock until he personally resolved the issue with Gaddafi in 2006, he said. He said Sharab had played no part in the final deal and that any gratitude he may have felt for her earlier role had gone since she had "stabbed him in the back" to work for the Libyans. He also denied proposing marriage to Sharab during the process, as she alleged in her evidence last week. "I can only assume that (Sharab) is seeking to gain some advantage in the proceedings by attempting to embarrass me," he said in his written witness statement. (estelle.shirbon@thomsonreuters.com)

Saudi prince questions king's deputy appointment

Sat Mar 28, 2009 11:47am EDT


* A brother of Saudi king objects to deputy PM nomination

* He says nomination may make interior minister crown prince

* Prince Talal urges king to clarify his appointment

By Souhail Karam

RIYADH, March 28 (Reuters) - A brother of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has started a rare public debate over the succession by questioning the appointment of the kingdom's interior minister as second deputy prime minister -- a position that would normally place him second in line to the throne.

The statement, by Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz, came after the Saudi royal court announced on Friday the appointment of Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz as second deputy prime minister, a promotion that means he will run the kingdom when the monarch and crown prince are away.

The role would normally go to First Deputy Prime Minister Crown Prince Sultan, but he is convalescing in the United States after surgery earlier this year.

Prince Talal said the monarch needs to make sure the appointment served purely an "administrative purpose".

"I call on the royal court to clarify what is meant by this nomination and that it does not mean that he (Prince Nayef) will become crown prince," Prince Talal said in a faxed statement sent to Reuters.

"The latest nomination of the second deputy prime minister will give the impression that he will automatically become crown prince," said Prince Talal, who is also the father of billionaire businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

The statement was authenticated by a personal assistant of Prince Talal, who like both King Abdullah and Prince Nayef is a son of the kingdom's founder, the late King Abdul-Aziz al-Saud.

A CONSERVATIVE FORCE

Prince Talal said the appointment of Nayef as crown prince should be decided by the Allegiance Council, made up of the most prominent members of the al-Saud family who would vote to appoint future crown princes.

The decision to set up the council in 2006 aimed at replacing an even more opaque previous policy consisting of naming "the eldest and most able" son of late King Abdul-Aziz to the post of Crown Prince.

Prince Nayef, believed to be 75, is perceived as one of the most conservative forces in the kingdom and an opponent of reforms that may reduce the clout of both the monarchy and the religious establishment in the kingdom, the world's leading oil exporter.

He told reporters earlier this week that he does not see a need either for women to be members of a quasi-parliament or elections to its membership.

Prince Talal, on the other hand, has long been one of the most vocal supporters of reforms among the ruling al-Saud family.

An Interior Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the statement saying that only the royal court was eligible to comment on such issues. The court's public relations officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Western diplomats and analysts said Prince Nayef's appointment improve his chances of becoming the next crown prince.

"There is no other explanation to this appointment. Prince Talal's statement reflects this," said Khalid al-Dakhil, a political science lecturer at King Saud University.

A diplomat added: "It is fair to talk about the Allegiance Council if there is a vacancy. Prince Nayef's appointment suggests the inevitability that he is to become crown prince".

A Saudi analyst close to official circles said Prince Nayef's appointment followed discussions among the top members of the royal family, but could not say if Prince Talal took part in these talks.

"Everything is possible behind those closed doors, they have agreed. The law allows the king to name one deputy or several deputies or remove them ... The allegiance council is not needed now since the position of crown prince is not vacant".

The appointment of Prince Nayef, which a royal decree said was "made in the interest of the public good", will put the interior minister in charge of running Saudia Arabia during an expected two-week absence by King Abdullah.

The monarch is expected to attend an Arab summit next week in Qatar before heading to London for a G20 summit early in April.

Diplomats and analysts say Prince Talal's push for reforms is shared by only a minority of several thousands of Saudi princes. "He has a history," one diplomat said.

Saudi authorities revoked in the early 1960s Prince Talal's passport when he sought to press for a constitutional monarchy and allied himself to late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, then an arch-foe of the Saudi monarchy.

Prince Talal later toned down his rhetoric to be able to return to the kingdom.

Over the more than 30 years he has spent as Interior Minister, Prince Nayef has had to deal with a bloody siege at the Grand Mosque of Mecca in 1979 and a wave of bombings led by al-Qaeda sympathisers and aimed at toppling the monarchy.

(Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

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Al Qaeda behind Libyan plot to murder Saudi prince

RIYADH: A leading Saudi-owned newspaper reported Saturday that four Libyan-recruited would-be assassins of Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz were members of Al Qaeda, the network blamed for the terror that has hit Saudi Arabia in the past 13 months.

Saudi officials have not commented on the alleged plot to murder Abdullah or spoken of retaliatory measures, but Asharq Al-Awsat’s claim came as other Saudi newspapers assailed Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi for the second day in a row.

The daily Okaz also sought to link Libya to the wave of bombings and shootings which began in Saudi Arabia in May 2003, quoting unspecified sources as “not ruling out the involvement of Libyan intelligence in some of the recent bombings and killings.”

The New York Times reported on Thursday that two people involved in a plot to fire rockets at Abdullah’s motorcade had been detained in the United States and Saudi Arabia and that the plot was being investigated by Washington, Riyadh and London.

The two were named as Abdurahman Almoudi, an American arrested in October for violating a US ban on travel to Libya, and Colonel Mohammed Ismael, a Libyan intelligence officer captured by Egyptian police in November after he fled Saudi Arabia where he tried to pay four Saudi militants. Libya has denied the allegations.

Reporting from Jeddah, Asharq Al-Awsat said Ismael fled from the Rea Sea port city to Cairo last November after he saw Saudi security forces besieging a hotel in nearby Mecca in which the four Saudis affiliated to Al Qaeda, and who were supposed to carry out the assassination, were staying.

The four were to use shoulder-held or armor-piercing missiles in the assassination, it said, adding that the hotel was located opposite the palace where Abdullah was due to stay.

The plot was uncovered thanks to the measures Saudi Arabia has introduced to monitor the flow of money into the country, the paper quoted reliable sources as saying in a reference to the tighter controls meant to prevent terror financing which began after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

An employee in a branch of Al-Rajhi Bank in Mecca became suspicious of a one-million-dollar transfer to Ismael, who said it was meant to cover the expenses of Gaddafi ‘s wife during a pilgrimage trip to the Muslim holy city.

Saudi authorities put Ismael under surveillance and eventually raided a hotel apartment where the four Saudi Al Qaeda recruits were staying and arrested them, prompting the Libyan intelligence officer to flee to Egypt.

Security authorities immediately contacted their Egyptian counterparts, who arrested Ismael as soon as he landed in Cairo and put him on a plane back to Saudi Arabia, the paper said.

The daily Al-Watan gave a slightly different account of the run-up to Ismael’s flight to Egypt but named a second Libyan security agent — Abdul Fattah al-Ghosh — who accompanied him and was sent back to Saudi Arabia. afp

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Saudi crown prince to convalesce in Morocco -SPA
29 Apr 2009 09:39:17 GMT
Source: Reuters
RIYADH, April 29 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, who had surgery in New York in February, will spend time in Morocco before returning home, the official news agency SPA reported late on Tuesday.

Prince Sultan, deputy leader of the world's biggest oil exporter, will leave the United States on Wednesday to convalesce in Morocco, SPA quoted one of his sons Prince Fahd bin Sultan as saying.

"He then will return soon to the homeland, God willing, to perform his functions and duties for the service of religion and the nation," said Prince Fahd, governor of Tabuk region.

Prince Turki bin Sultan, another son of the prince and an assistant information minister, said in remarks carried by SPA earlier on Tuesday his father would return to Saudi Arabia soon.

Saudi media at the time described the treatment undertaken by Prince Sultan, who is thought to be 84, as successful but did not say what he was treated for.

Prince Sultan left the kingdom, an absolute monarchy closely allied to Washington, in November for medical tests in the United States, Saudi media said. He then returned to Morocco for a prescribed convalescence before flying back to New York for the surgery in February.

In March, King Abdullah appointed Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz as second deputy prime minister, a promotion that would normally place him second in line to the throne after Sultan. The position means he will run the kingdom when both the monarch and crown prince are away.

Al Qaeda launched a failed campaign of violence to destabilise the Gulf Arab country from 2003 to 2006.

Prince Sultan had an intestinal cyst removed in Saudi Arabia in 2005 and he visited the Swiss city of Geneva in April 2008 for what were described as routine tests. (Reporting by Souhail Karam; Editing by Andrew Hammond and Dominic Evans)