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WASHINGTON: Saad Al Jabri, a former top Saudi official currently in exile, and a group of men he led while he was working at Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry, misspent $11 billion in government funds, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
US intelligence agencies sources who spoke to the newspaper said Al Jabri, currently in exile in Canada, ran a special interior ministry fund that was focused on high-level counter-terrorism efforts. The paper said he had misspent $11bn over 17 years to pay himself, his family, and acquaintances in bonuses.
“Mr Jabri, a 61-year-old with a doctorate in computer science, was the effective number two in the Saudi Interior Ministry, which was run for years by Mohammed bin Nayef. Mr Jabri ran a special ministry fund that mixed government spending on high-priority anti-terrorism efforts with bonuses for Mr Jabri and others, according to documents reviewed by the Journal and interviews with Saudi officials and Mr Jabri’s confidants,” the WSJ report read.
“In the 17 years he oversaw the fund, $19.7bn flowed through it. The government claims $11bn was spent improperly through overpayments on contracts or was diverted to destinations including overseas bank accounts controlled by Mr Jabri, his family and his associates, including Mohammed bin Nayef,” the report added.
Documents seen by the WSJ and corroborated by corporate filings in Saudi Arabia showed that the funds originating from the special unit was funnelled through a company called Technology Control which was funded by the ministry itself but also owned at times by Al Jabri’s brother, his nephew and two close associates.
The report laid out how Technology Control had channelled money and at times overcharged the Saudi Arabian government, in turn making undue profits.
“Technology Control was transferred to the government. Saudi investigators discovered that the Interior Ministry paid the company more than $11,000 apiece for 2,000 secure landline and mobile phones that cost $500 to make, according to people familiar with the investigation. The equipment was later discarded because it didn’t work well,” the WSJ reported.
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