Six weeks on and the world is still trying to sort out the implications of the Saudi purge.
The historic power grab orchestrated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was carried out under the guise of a corruption crackdown, but exactly no one was buying that excuse.
The brazen push to consolidate power by imprisoning scores of royals, businessmen, and military personnel came just a little over four months after bin Salman replaced his cousin Muhammad bin Nayef as heir to the throne.
Arguably the most notable figure to find himself caught up in the early November sweep was Prince Miteb bin Abdullah. The son of the late King Abdullah, his ouster meant the Shammar branch of the family would no longer hold any top positions. The National Guard — which he ran until last month — was given its own ministry four years ago and if you read a little bit about the history there, you can kind of start to get an idea of why bin Salman might have wanted to control it too. Essentially, bin Salman was attempting to gain control of the kingdom’s entire security apparatus and not only that, it kind of seemed like Prince Miteb (who was once thought to be a contender for the throne) might have been one of the only people still in a position to challenge MbS. And indeed, there was no shortage of speculation following the June shakeup that Prince Miteb’s day was coming.
Miteb was later freed after agreeing to pay some $1 billion to settle the corruption charges leveled against him.
But Miteb’s plight was overshadowed by the celebrity status of Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, whose history with Donald Trump raised interesting questions about why he was detained in the first place.
The rumor mill has been alive with fantastic (or maybe not) stories about what fate has befallen Prince al-Waleed over the past six weeks, and on Friday night, the Wall Street Journal is out reporting that he will need to pay some $6 billion to secure his release.
Although he’s worth nearly $19 billion, the ransom (because that’s what it is) would imperil his business empire, a snapshot of which is below courtesy of WSJ:
“Prince al-Waleed has indicated that he believes raising and handing over that much cash as an admission of guilt and would require him to dismantle the financial empire he has built over 25 years,” sources close to the prince told WSJ, whose Margherita Stancati, adds that “Prince al-Waleed is talking with the government about instead accepting as payment for his release a large piece of his conglomerate, Kingdom Holding Co.”
Shares of Kingdom Holding plunged upon news of al-Waleed’s arrest and have not recovered.
Of course the Prince hasn’t been formally charged with anything; because that’s how a shakedown works. The problem for MbS is that it’s not entirely clear whether al-Waleed is going to acquiesce to this farce. Here’s WSJ again:
The prince has indicated to people close to him that he is determined to prove his innocence and would fight the corruption allegations in court if he had to.
“He wants a proper investigation. It is expected that al-Waleed will give MBS a hard time,” said a person close to Prince al-Waleed, referring to the crown prince by his initials, as many do.
The truly absurd part about this is that MbS and al-Waleed are cousins and there’s some speculation that the Crown Prince wasn’t enamored with al-Waleed’s high profile. “Kingdom Holding has long acted like an arm of the Saudi state, striking deals that could have also been done by the crown prince or the kingdom’s own sovereign-wealth vehicle, the Public Investment Fund,” the Journal continues.
In the meantime, don’t worry too much about al-Waleed because contrary to what you might have read in the Daily Mail, the Journal says he’s actually just hanging out in the Ritz-Carlton. And although his access to communication is reportedly limited, he’s eating “diet food” and exercising.
That said, if he gives his cousin too hard of a time over this, he might find the accommodations at the Ritz become less … well … less accommodating.
