Saudi princes lose battle to keep court documents secret

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Guardian

Two prominent Saudi princes are involved in a London-registered company that supposedly facilitated "money laundering" for Hezbollah in Lebanon and helped smuggle precious stones out of Congo, according to contested allegations in court documents obtained by the Guardian.

The claims emerge from court papers that lawyers for the Saudis have spent a year trying to suppress, including resorting to threats that relations with Britain would be damaged if they were revealed.

Lawyers for the two princes – Prince Mishal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a former defence minister, brother of King Abdullah and chairman of the country's influential allegiance council, and his son Prince Abdulaziz bin Mishal bin Al Saud – dismiss the claims as fabrications, "extortion" and "blackmail".

They contend that their former partner, a Jordanian, Faisal Almhairat, "misappropriated" money from accounts, denied them access to company books, shut down the shared business and "interfered with the negotiations" on telecommunications deals. Almhairat, in turn, disputes their claims.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/16/saudi-princes-court-documents-secret

[geek tragedy]

1. life's hard for plutocratic petrosheiks. nt

[freshwest]

2. I find the legal system of the UK fascinating. Love the buildings at the link, too:

[leveymg]

3. Why would Saudi Princes be moneylaundering for Hezbollah, a Shi'ia group?

Doesn't make a lot of sense on the face of it.

But, blood diamonds are forever.

[DCKit]

4. Bet there's a lot of "there" there. nt

[bemildred]

5. Yeah, we think alike there.

Loot wins. Be interesting to see the fallout.

[yurbud]

6. Saudi and Israel do a lot of our gruntwork in the region...

It's hard to scare up support for giving a beat down to a happy, stable, democratic country, but if there's "unrest," civil war, islamic fundamentalists, why we (or Israel) MUST invade to set things right.

And if we get an oil field, pipeline route, or water source in the deal, so much the better.