Saudi princes reject laundering allegations
Businessman alleged princes were sending money to Hezbollah
Their lawyers have argued that the allegations amount to a malicious attack on their reputations, and “extortion”.
The Financial Times and the Guardian opposed arguments for the case to be kept secret and on Thursday won an application for the right to inspect and report on the case and underlying court documents.
Those documents include a series of allegations by Faisal Al Mhairat, a Jordanian businessman who is battling the princes in court. He alleges that Prince Mishal laundered money for the rich and powerful and was interested in dealing with Hezbollah despite its links to Iran, an adversary of Saudi Arabia.
Prince Mishal, 86, is the son of the late King Abdul Aziz and a senior member of the Saudi royal family. He is chairman of the Allegiance Council, which presides over monarchical succession and selection of a new crown prince after the death of the king.
The legal tussle between the princes and Al Mhairat is over the governance of FI Call, a British-incorporated joint venture they set up in 2009. In 2011, Global Torch, an FI Call shareholder linked to Prince Abdul Aziz, the younger prince, issued a London court claim accusing Al Mhairat of fraud.
In one legal document, Global Torch claims Al Mhairat is “a dishonest man with a history of failing to comply with business obligations and misappropriating monies from his joint venture partners.”
As part of his legal battle Al Mhairat, who denies any past wrongdoing, has made a range of allegations against the two princes.
They include that one of their agents bribed UN officials to turn a blind eye to an illicit air cargo of $2b to Nairobi.
Al Mhairat also claims he was called in March 2010 by Prince Abdul Aziz’s personal secretary, and told to fly to Beirut and issue a $5m bank guarantee on behalf of FI Call to Abdul Razzak Bin Suleiman Bin Ibrahim Al Mohiesen, who was described as a “major businessman” and friend of Prince Abdul Aziz.
Al Mhairat asserts that when he made independent enquiries about Abdul Razzak he was told Abdul Razzak was a “well known intermediary for the organisation Hezbollah and was known for brokering deals for Hezbollah”.
Al Mhairat further claims that, when he raised concerns about Abdul Razzak with Prince Abdul Aziz’s secretary, he received a threatening phone call from the prince himself.
Prince Abdul Aziz is alleged to have said that his father, Prince Mishal, was “interested in this deal”.
“I need to show Hezbollah that we can transfer money to them smoothly. They have potentially billions that they want to be transferred,” the younger prince is alleged to have said.
“We deal with whoever we want to deal with, whether it’s Hezbollah, or the Mafia,” the younger prince is also alleged to have said.
The princes vehemently deny the allegations. They are also disputing whether they should be parties to the case at all. Their application challenging the jurisdiction of the English court is due to be heard next week.
