Month: August 2020

The luxury Riyadh hotel used as a prison during Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on corruption will reopen for business next month, suggesting authorities are close to settling the cases of many suspects.

Dozens of princes, senior officials and top businessmen were detained and confined in the five-star Ritz-Carlton Riyadh as the government launched the purge in early November.

The some 200 detainees occupied half the hotel’s 492 rooms. The rest was closed to business.

The hotel’s website now accepts bookings from Feb. 14, quoting a nightly rate for its cheapest room of 2,439 riyals (£480).

Saudi authorities have said they expect the vast majority of suspects to agree to financial settlements of charges against them, and that Riyadh hopes to recover about $100 billion of illicit funds. A small number are expected to be prosecuted.

Construction giant Saudi Binladin Group said on Saturday that some of its shareholders might transfer part of their holdings to the state in a settlement with authorities. Chairman Bakr Bin Laden and several family members were detained in the crackdown.

In late November, senior Saudi Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, once seen as a leading contender to the throne, was freed after reaching a settlement with authorities that involved paying more than $1 billion, according to a Saudi official.

Another top businessman who has been held at the Ritz-Carlton is billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman and owner of global investment firm Kingdom Holding. A Saudi official said this week that he was negotiating a possible settlement but so far had not agreed on terms.

It has been rumoured, Mr Talal, one of the world’s richest men, could be forced to pay as much as $7bn.

Saudi Arabia is in the midst of a massive political and economic shake-up, marked by the sudden appointment of Prince Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince in June.

The 32-year-old son of the king has spearheaded the unprecedented crackdown on corruption among members of the government and royal family, as he consolidates his grip on power in the kingdom.

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Morgan Spurlock, the director of hit documentaries including Super Size Me, has admitted to a history of sexual misconduct, including being accused of rape and settling a sexual harassment claim.

The 47-year-old filmmaker posted the confession online under the title "I am Part of the Problem" after witnessing the slew of  sexual harassment claims triggered by the Harvey Weinstein scandal. 

"As I sit around watching hero after hero, man after man, fall at the realisation of their past indiscretions, I don’t sit by and wonder ‘who will be next?’ I wonder, ‘when will they come for me?’," Spurlock wrote. 

He went on to recount a time in college when he was told by a friend that a girl in a writing class had accused him of raping her. 

"In my mind, we’d been drinking all night and went back to my room," Spurlock wrote. "We began fooling around, she pushed me off, then we laid in the bed and talked and laughed some more, and then began fooling around again.

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"We took off our clothes. She said she didn’t want to have sex, so we laid together, and talked, and kissed, and laughed, and then we started having sex."

She became upset, he said, and they stopped. "I tried to comfort her. To make her feel better. I thought I was doing ok, I believed she was feeling better. She believed she was raped," he wrote. 

In another incident, Spurlock said he settled a sexual harassment allegation at his office around eight years ago.

Morgan Spurlock’s confession | ‘I am Part of the Problem’

"I would call my female assistant ‘hot pants’ or ‘sex pants’ when I was yelling to her from the other side of the office," he said.

After she quit and threatened to go public unless he paid her a settlement, he said he did so. "I paid for peace of mind. I paid for her silence and cooperation. Most of all, I paid so I could remain who I was," he wrote.  

Spurlock, who married for the second time last year and whose first wife Alex Jamieson appeared in Super Size Me, goes on to admit he cheated on "every wife and girlfriend I have ever had". 

"Over the years, I would look each of them in the eye and proclaim my love and then have sex with other people behind their backs," he wrote. 

In attempting to explain possible reasons for his behaviour, he admitted he was sexually abused as a boy and in his teens and that he hadn’t "been sober for more than a week in 30 years".

"I am part of the problem. We all are," he wrote. "But I am also part of the solution. By recognising and openly admitting what I’ve done to further this terrible situation, I hope to empower the change within myself. We should all find the courage to admit we’re at fault."

Since the Weinstein scandal rocked Hollywood in October, more than 50 women have accused the movie mogul of sexually harassing or assaulting them over the past three decades. Weinstein has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.

The controversy has spurred the #MeToo movement, with dozens of celebrities facing accusations of sexual misconduct. 

 

 

Eleven princes in Saudi Arabia have been arrested for staging a sit-in protest at having to pay their own utility bills, after the kingdom announced subsidies would be cut as part of a major economic overhaul.

The princes had gathered at Qasr al-Hokm palace in the capital Riyadh to demand the cancellation of a recent decree that halted state payment of water and electricity bills for royal family members.

The government is currently trying to reduce its dependence on oil revenues. Public spending has been targeted, including the lifting of some government subsidies.

The economic reforms have been linked to the arrest of more than 200 princes in an anti-corruption purge in November spearheaded by Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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They have led to tension within the royal Al-Saud family which counts thousands of members – only a handful of whom wield direct influence over the kingdom.

All those detained over the weekend, arrested for disturbing the peace, were thought to be sons of the deposed King Saud bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

Prince Mohammed has sidelined his cousins to become heir to the throne and has since consolidated his grip on the kingdom’s economy.

Saudi officials estimate that corruption and embezzlement has cost the kingdom at least $100 billion over decades.

Reports suggest the Saudi authorities have demanded money in return for releasing the Saudi princes held at the Ritz Carlton hotel for nearly two months. They want at least $6 billion (£4.4bn) from Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the world’s richest men.

The 11 princes were being detained at Al-Hayer prison south of Riyadh, the capital, pending trial.

"No one is above the law in Saudi Arabia. Everyone is equal and is treated the same as others," the statement said.