Spymaster hiding in Canada alleged to have stolen $4.5B from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in new lawsuit
The Saudi dissident and former spymaster who’s been living quietly in Toronto since 2017, is alleged to have embezzled nearly $4.5 billion from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia coffers, according to a new lawsuit filed in the Ontario Superior Court.
© Provided by National Post Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman speaks virtually to a financial conference on January 28, 2021.
It is the latest legal salvo in the ongoing battle between Saad Aljabri and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. Earlier this year, Aljabri launched a lawsuit in the United States against the crown prince for allegedly sending assassins to Canada to murder him, much as he’s believed to have done with the execution of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
The team of mercenaries, known as the Tiger Squad, were turned away by Canadian border officers. Aljabri claims the assassination plot and the other actions taken against him — including tracking his whereabouts and accusations of corruption — are all part of a strategy to haul him back to the Kingdom and silence him.
This time the legal battle is in Canadian courts. It was filed in late January by Tahakom Investment Company, which is owned by the sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. That, in turn, is chaired by Mohammed bin Salman.
The Ontario lawsuit claims between 2008 and 2017, Aljabri masterminded an “international scheme” involving 21 conspirators across 13 countries to defraud the plaintiff companies of billions of dollars, fled to Canada, and “launched a public relations campaign, including litigation against his former government, to deflect attention from his theft.”
The lawsuit says when a number of companies established by Aljabri were consolidated — which includes some of the companies listed among the plaintiffs — into the Tahakom Investment Company in 2018, Ernst & Young and Deloitte international auditing firms found irregularities with the books.
Children of ex-Saudi intelligence official living in Canada disappear amid Saudi efforts to force him home
None of the allegations have been proven in court. Statements of defence have also not been filed. The Aljabri family could not be reached for comment by the National Post. But Saad Aljabri’s son, Khalid Aljabri, who’s also named as a defendant in the Ontario suit, retweeted a statement on Twitter from a campaign to help track down the Aljabri children who vanished in Saudi Arabia last March, that said it is part of a “campaign of harassment and misinformation” against the family.
“The family welcomes the opportunity to face off against (Mohammed bin Salman) in neutral judicial forums in Canada and the United States,” the statement said.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 10 companies under the Tahakom umbrella, alleges that Aljabri set up companies that were supposed to be for anti-terrorism activities, using his high-ranked position within the Saudi government. The court documents say he then appropriated funds allocated by the Saudi government before secreting them away in a variety of jurisdictions, such as the British Virgin Islands and Turkey, and also purchased luxury homes in various nations and locations, and disbursed money to friends and family.
The lawsuit details a network of 17 companies, all but one formed between 2006 and 2016, with shareholders loyal to Aljabri. The corporations are registered in a variety of places, including at least four companies with offices in Vancouver and Toronto. The lawsuit details properties in Toronto and Montreal, five luxury condominiums in Boston, a penthouse suite in Washington, D.C., and numerous properties in Saudi Arabia owned by Aljabri or his family members, or purchased through these corporate entities.
“While (Aljabri’s) hands were hidden, his fingerprints are everywhere,” the lawsuit says.
© Aljabri family Saad Aljabri.
Until 2015, Aljabri was a high-ranking intelligence official in Saudi Arabia, and a key figure in the relationship between Western and Saudi intelligence agencies. He was the right-hand man of Mohammed bin Nayef, the nephew of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Bin Nayef was deposed in 2017 in favour of Mohammed bin Salman.
This, according to a source close to the Aljabri family, made him a target of the new regime. Purges followed the rise of Mohammed bin Salman to Crown Prince, and Aljabri and most of his family fled the country. Two of his adult children, Omar and Sarah, remained behind in what has been called a “hostage situation.” Both of them vanished last March following a round of arrests that saw bin Nayef put behind bars — he’s accused of plotting a coup.
The whereabouts of Omar and Sarah remain unknown, nearly a year after their disappearance.
Allegations of corruption have long been a part of Saudi Arabia’s campaign to get Aljabri returned to the Kingdom; in 2017, Saudi Arabia attempted to have INTERPOL arrest Aljabri on corruption charges, but, according to the lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., by Aljabri, INTERPOL determined it was a politically motivated request.
Bin Nayef, while not named as a defendant in the Canadian lawsuit, is mentioned as an associate of Aljabri’s who is alleged to have participated in the misappropriation of funds.
Until 2015, Aljabri was a high-ranking intelligence official in Saudi Arabia, and a key figure in the relationship between Western and Saudi intelligence agencies. He was the right-hand man of Mohammed bin Nayef, the nephew of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Bin Nayef was deposed in 2017 in favour of Mohammed bin Salman.
This, according to a source close to the Aljabri family, made him a target of the new regime. Purges followed the rise of Mohammed bin Salman to Crown Prince, and Aljabri and most of his family fled the country. Two of his adult children, Omar and Sarah, remained behind in what has been called a “hostage situation.” Both of them vanished last March following a round of arrests that saw bin Nayef put behind bars — he’s accused of plotting a coup.
The whereabouts of Omar and Sarah remain unknown, nearly a year after their disappearance.
Allegations of corruption have long been a part of Saudi Arabia’s campaign to get Aljabri returned to the Kingdom; in 2017, Saudi Arabia attempted to have INTERPOL arrest Aljabri on corruption charges, but, according to the lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., by Aljabri, INTERPOL determined it was a politically motivated request.
Bin Nayef, while not named as a defendant in the Canadian lawsuit, is mentioned as an associate of Aljabri’s who is alleged to have participated in the misappropriation of funds.
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