Saudi ruler turns anti-corruption guns on former spymaster, now a ‘Maltese’ exile

Saudi Arabia’s former spymaster, now a naturalised Maltese citizen, has been accused of embezzling billions of dollars by State-owned companies of Saudi Arabia.

Saad al Jabri, 61, has accused Saudi ruler Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, or MBS, of plotting to assassinate him.

Ten companies owned by Tahakom Investments, a subsidiary of the Saudi sovereign-wealth fund, filed a Canadian civil suit , where Saad al Jabri, 61, lives.

Al Jabri fled the kingdom fearing for his life, after having acted as top aide of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, known as MBN, who was removed as crown prince in 2017 by King Salman in favour of his son, Mohammed bin Salman.

Saudi authorities detained MBN last year and accused him of plotting a coup.

MBN, who is the cousin of MBS, was once one of the most influential members of the Saudi ruling family and a trusted American ally known for his role in helping combat Al Qaeda. His dismissal capped the rapid rise to power by his younger cousin, MBS.

Al Jabri spent years at MBN’s side and is credited by the Americans with helping stop terrorist attacks on Western targets.

The lawsuit alleges that MBN colluded with Al Jabri to receive at least $1.2 billion in misappropriated funds. MBN allegedly transferred at least $55 million to Al Jabri as kickbacks, according to the suit.

Al Jabri’s family says the Saudi government is pursuing him because he knows the secrets of the royal family, including details about MBS’s personal life, how he has received and spent money since joining the line of succession, and what he has done to achieve power.

The Canadian court has now ordered a world-wide asset freeze against Al Jabri and directed him to disclose his assets publicly or face possible jail time.

The allegedly ill-gotten gains include some 26 estates in Saudi Arabia valued together at more than $43 million, luxury condominiums at Boston’s Mandarin Oriental and Four Seasons hotels, and several properties in Canada.

The companies claim they were defrauded under Al Jabri’s authority, who misspent $11 billion in state funds while working for the interior ministry and funnelling money to himself and his family.

In one instance, the lawsuit says Al Jabri transferred two properties in Geneva and Vienna, valued together at nearly $400 million, from a Tahakom subsidiary to an entity that he ultimately controlled. “Al Jabri masterminded and oversaw a conspiracy,” the Canadian lawsuit says.

In August 2020, Al Jabri sued MBS in a U.S. court, claiming that he had dispatched a hit squad to Canada to assassinate him in 2018, less than two weeks after Saudi operatives killed and dismembered Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.

Lawyers for MBS have filed a motion to dismiss Al. Jabri’s claim, arguing that the court lacks jurisdiction and the crown prince enjoys immunity due to his government status.

Al-Jabri obtained citizenship for himself and children through the Individual Investor Programme. Al-Jabri’s children, Omar, 21, and Sarah, 20, are also Maltese citizens and are reported to have gone missing inside Saudi Arabia after they were stopped from joining their father who is in exile in Canada.

He is suing Bin Salman over an “attempted extrajudicial killing” two weeks after the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was dismembered in Istanbul’s Saudi consulate.

The civil suit also states that men armed with “two bags of forensic tools” tried entering Canada using tourist visas but were prevented from doing so by border control in Toronto.

Al Jabri, a veteran of the Saudi government, fled to Turkey in 2017 and then to Toronto.

The lawsuit, filed in Washington’s district court, claims that among the men was “an instructor in the exact same criminal evidence department as the forensic specialist who dismembered Mr Khashoggi with a bone saw.”

Al Jabri is also claiming that the crown prince is using his children as “human bait” to keep him out of hiding.

Four US senators wrote to former President Donald Trump raising concerns about the “enforced disappearance” of Jabri’s children and describing the dissident as a “close ally and friend”. Al Jabri is said to have close ties to the US intelligence community.

The lawsuit also says that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had warned Al Jabri’s son in 2018 about a possible threat to the family. In October, the lawsuit alleges, MBS tracked the former intelligence official in Canada. The hit squad arrived at Toronto airport, but was denied entrance by officials. They tried avoiding detection by entering separately.

Despite claiming they did not know each other, officials had found a photo of them together. All but one, bearing a diplomatic passport, were refused entry.