When Saudi Arabia found itself unable to purchase F-15 fighter jets in the early 1980s from the United States because of pro-Israeli opposition in Congress, Bandar bin Sultan, then Saudi Ambassador to Washington, turned to the UK. BAE Systems, created by the privatization of the British defense industry in 1981, was now the largest European arms manufacturer. Bandar cleared a deal for warplanes with BAE with the Reagan administration, then sealed it with a letter from King Fahd.
The first phase of the al-Yamamah deal for the supply of 72 Tornado and 30 Hawk jets, military equipment, airbase construction, and training and maintenance programs worth $100bn was signed in 1986, mostly paid for in oil shipments over 20 years. Supply contracts for replacement parts also went to BAE and other British firms (warplanes consume about six times their original cost in spare parts). Delivery of the planes began in 1989.
In late 2005, BAE entered into negotiations with the Kingdom for the $40bn al-Yamamah IV, which involved the sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoons. Late last year, however, the Saudis became alarmed over the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) probe of Swiss bank accounts, and abruptly halted talks. At the same time, the French firm Dassault let it be known that talks were underway to sell the Rafale, a rival to the Eurofighter. Then, in December, the SFO halted the investigation, and a few weeks later Crown Prince Sultan bin Abd al-Aziz said that Saudi was looking forward to taking delivery of the Eurofighter "very soon". According to Prime Minister Tony Blair, the decision to quash the SFO investigation was justified by the need to avoid an unnecessary breach with Saudi Arabia, which could have had a damaging impact on national security (the UK government maintains that Saudi is providing valuable assistance in combating terrorism).
In June 2007, BBC reported that BAE Systems had made payments totalling some $2bn over ten years in commissions channelled to the Riggs Bank in Washington D.C. from accounts in the UK that received the proceeds of the sale of oil furnished by Saudi Arabia as the payment for the Tornado and Hawk aircraft. It is claimed that more than $25mn a quarter in secret payments to Bandar were allegedly written into "secret annexes" of the al-Yamamah contract for the provision of "support services". In fact, allegations had surfaced as early as 1992 that BAE had secured the contract through the use of a slush fund, although investigations were repressed for reasons of "national interest".
Bandar, since 2005 the head of the National Security Council, has denied allegations that he was the recipient of the funds. He has acknowledged the existence of accounts at the Riggs Bank on which he was an authorized signatory, while emphasizing that the accounts were in the name of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defence and Aviation (MODA). In a statement, he acknowledged having signing authority on the accounts, but said these would have been in accordance with the al-Yamamah contracts, and therefore could not be construed as "secret commissions", and that any monies paid out "were exclusively for purposes approved by MODA" and were audited by the Saudi Ministry of Finance, (though it remains unclear why the payments would have gone through these accounts).
Bandar has been friendly with British prime ministers and US presidents, and is especially close to the Bush family, to the extent that he is known affectionately as "Bandar Bush". He has invested over $60mn in the Carlye Group, in which the Bush family has important interests, and was considered an important Middle East "asset" at the CIA. Moving easily between the Gulf and the West, he has a personal Airbus A-340, painted in the silver and blue colors of his favourite American football team, the Dallas Cowboys, and enjoys landing rights at RAF Brize Norton, close to his 2,000-acre Oxfordshire estate at Glympton.
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War, Peace and Politics - The Royal Family and Palestine (Part II)
After the death of the first Saudi king, Abd al-Aziz, his son Saud took the throne. Despite taking the Palestinian issue to heart, the new monarch was unable to ever fully comprehend the depth of American support for Israel. In the end, Saud's weak leadership, disinterest, and lack of regional clout frustrated his scattered and unfocused efforts at resolution. |
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War, Peace and Politics - The Royal Family and Palestine (Part I)
The October 7 surprise attack on Israel by Hamas, and the resulting war this precipitated, has exposed the shortcomings of the Abraham Accords. Further, the lack of available arrows in the Saudi diplomatic quiver highlights the failure of decades-long efforts to reach a meaningful consensus on the issue of Palestinian statehood. Yet, starting with the reign of the Kingdom's founder, Abd al-Aziz, solidarity with Palestine and opposition to the Zionist project has been a core tenet of the royal identity. |
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Stage Management: Spectacles, Sidelining And Dissent
Even as the Kingdom takes steps towards cultural liberalization, an intense crackdown on activists and political dissidents continues unabated. Can the attempt to change its international image be reconciled with the extraordinary sentences being handed down by the courts? |
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A Royal in Morocco: The Strange Case of Princess Fahda al-Hithlayn
News of the lavish Moroccan holiday of Fahda, the wife of Saudi King Salman, seems to fly in the face of widespread reports of her supposed captivity on the orders of her own son, the crown prince. Was the sensational allegation by foreign intelligence agencies flawed, or has a family reconciliation taken place? |
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Reform, Crackdown and Succession: Continuity or Disruption?
As the crown prince and de facto regent Muhammad bin Salman presses ahead with an ambitious program of social and structural reforms, it is often assumed that he is pursuing a radically vision than that preferred by his more conservative father, King Salman. A closer look, however, reveals that the two are in fact closely aligned. |