‘The most recent crackdown breaks with the tradition of consensus within the ruling family
Saudi Arabia arrests 11 princes and four ministers in extraordinary 'consolidation of power'
LONDON — Saudi Arabia announced the arrest on Saturday night of the prominent billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, plus at least 10 other princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers.
The announcement of the arrests was made over Al Arabiya, the Saudi-owned satellite network whose broadcasts are officially approved. Prince Alwaleed’s arrest is sure to send shock waves both through the kingdom and the world’s major financial centers.
He controls the investment firm Kingdom Holding and is one of the world’s richest men, owning or having owned major stakes in News Corp, Citigroup, Twitter and many other well-known companies. The prince also controls satellite television networks watched across the Arab world.
The sweeping campaign of arrests appears to be the latest move to consolidate the power of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the favorite son and top adviser of King Salman.
At 32, the crown prince is already the dominant voice in Saudi military, foreign, economic and social policies, stirring murmurs of discontent in the royal family that he has amassed too much personal power, and at a remarkably young age.
The king had decreed the creation of a powerful new anti-corruption committee, headed by the crown prince, only hours before the committee ordered the arrests.
Al Arabiya said that the anticorruption committee has the right to investigate, arrest, ban from travel, or freeze the assets of anyone it deems corrupt.
The Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh, the de facto royal hotel, was evacuated on Saturday, stirring rumors that it would be used to house detained royals. The airport for private planes was closed, arousing speculation that the crown prince was seeking to block rich businessmen from fleeing before more arrests.
Prince Alwaleed was giving interviews to the Western news media as recently as late last month about subjects like so-called crypto currencies and Saudi Arabia’s plans for a public offering of shares in its state oil company, Aramco.
He has also recently sparred publicly with President Donald J. Trump. The prince was part of a group of investors who bought control of the Plaza Hotel in New York from Mr. Trump, and he also bought an expensive yacht from him as well. But in a twitter message in 2015 the prince called Mr. Trump “a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America.”
Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has pledged a ‘moderate, open’ Saudi Arabia, breaking with ultra-conservative clerics in favour of catering to foreign investors and Saudi youth AFP/Getty
Saudi Arabia has arrested 11 princes, four officials and tens of former officials as part of a sweeping anti-corruption probe which further cements control in the hands of its young Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman.
Billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who has extensive holdings in Western companies, was among those arrested, state news agencies reported.
A top security official, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, was detained and replaced as minister of the powerful National Guard by Prince Khaled bin Ayyaf, consolidating Prince Mohammed’s control of security institutions which had previously been headed by separate branches of the ruling family.
News of the purge came after King Salman decreed the creation of a new anti-corruption committee chaired by Prince Mohammed, his 32-year-old son, who has swiftly amassed power since rising from obscurity less than three years ago.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince says kingdom will return to ‘moderate, open Islam’
Analysts suggested the corruption probe, which targeted key members of the royal family, was a show of force by the crown prince, aimed at removing any potential opposition as he pushes an ambitious and controversial reform agenda.
embrace crown prince’s desire for liberalisation
“The most recent crackdown breaks with the tradition of consensus within the ruling family whose secretive inner workings are equivalent to those of the Kremlin at the time of the Soviet Union,” wrote James Dorsey, a senior fellow at Singapore’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
“Nonetheless, the dismissals and detentions suggest that Prince Mohammed, rather than forging alliances, is extending his iron grip to the ruling family, the military and the National Guard to counter what appears to be more widespread opposition within the family as well as the military to his reforms and the Yemen war.”
An economist at a big Gulf bank, who declined to be named because of political sensitivities, told Reuters nobody in Saudi Arabia believed corruption was at the root of the purge.
“It’s about consolidating power and frustration that reforms haven’t been happening fast enough,” the economist said.
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, told the Associated Press the arrests were designed to further smooth the crown prince’s eventual succession to the throne.
As a leader who is set to remain in power for decades, Mohammed bin Salman is remaking the kingdom in his own image and signalling a potentially significant move away from the consensual balancing of competing interests that characterised Saudi rule in the past,” Mr Ulrichsen said
Other people detained in the probe include former finance minister Ibrahim al-Assaf, a board member of national oil giant Saudi Aramco; economy minister Adel Fakieh, who once played a major role in drafting reforms; former Riyadh governor Prince Turki bin Abdullah; and Khalid al-Tuwaijiri, who headed the Royal Court under the late King Abdullah.
In addition to Prince Alwaleed, who is one of Saudi Arabia’s best-known international businessmen as an investor in firms such as Citigroup and Twitter, those detained included Bakr bin Laden, chairman of the big Saudi Binladin construction group, and Alwaleed al-Ibrahim, owner of the MBC television network.
Reporters suggested some detainees were being held at the opulent Ritz-Carlton hotel in the diplomatic quarter of Riyadh.
The detentions followed an earlier crackdown in September on political opponents of Saudi Arabia’s rulers that saw some 30 clerics, intellectuals and activists detained.
Saudi princes among dozens detained in 'corruption' purge
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is among those held
The heir to the throne in Saudi Arabia has consolidated his hold on power with a major purge of the kingdom's political and business leadership.
A new anti-corruption body, headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, detained 11 princes, four sitting ministers and dozens of ex-ministers.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a billionaire with investments in Twitter and Apple, is among those held.
Separately King Salman replaced the national guard and the navy chiefs.
The new anti-corruption committee has the power to issue arrest warrants and travel bans.
Attorney General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb said the status of the detainees would not influence "the firm and fair application of justice", AFP news agency reports.
Saudi broadcaster Al-Arabiya said fresh investigations had been launched into the 2009 Jeddah floods and the outbreak of the Mers virus which emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012 - but analysts see the detentions as a clear move by the crown prince to strengthen his power base.
A shock to Saudis unused to change
The events of Saturday night in Saudi Arabia are nothing short of seismic for that country. In a bold, pre-planned move, the 32-year old Crown Prince has removed the final obstacles to his gaining total control over the world's richest oil producer and home to the holiest shrines in Islam.
Presented to the world as an anti-corruption drive, the arrests of princes, ministers and the billionaire tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal have shocked Saudis unused to sudden change.
The crown prince is largely popular, especially amongst young Saudis, but many older, more conservative citizens think he is moving too far too fast. He has started an unwinnable war in Yemen while still fighting the extremists of so-called Islamic State. He has also backed a damaging boycott of Gulf neighbour Qatar.
But his supporters hail his efforts to modernise Saudi Arabia and, after decades of rule by old men, they welcome a fresh vision from a man who could well be king for the next 50 years.
Who is Prince Alwaleed?
The owner of London's Savoy hotel is one of the richest men in the world, with a net worth of $17bn (£13bn) according to Forbes.
Shares in Kingdom Holding, the investment firm owned by the prince, plunged 9.9% in early trade on the Saudi stock market after news of his detention emerged.
The firm is one of Saudi Arabia's most important investors. Apart from Twitter and Apple, it has shares in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, Citigroup bank, the Four Seasons hotel chain and ride-sharing service Lyft.
The Saudi prince made the news in the past for employing women, who make up two-thirds of his staff.
Two years ago he offered luxury cars to fighter pilots participating in a bombing campaign in Yemen, where the Saudi-led coalition continues to bomb Houthi rebels, killing 26 people in an attack on a hotel and market on Wednesday.
Prince Alwaleed once bought control of a hotel and a yacht from Donald Trump, when he had yet to enter politics, but clashed with him publicly on Twitter in 2015 over his decision to stand for president, the New York Times notes.
Mr Trump, who was born into a family of property developers, shot back with a tweet mocking the source of the prince's wealth.
However, after Mr Trump's election last November, the prince sent "congratulations and best wishes".
Who else was detained or sacked?
National guard minister Prince Miteb bin Abdullah and navy commander Admiral Abdullah bin Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Sultan were both replaced, with no official explanation given.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionPrince Miteb bin Abdullah has been replaced as head of the powerful national guard
Prince Miteb, son of the late King Abdullah, was once seen as a contender for the throne and was the last member of Abdullah's branch of the family in the highest echelons of Saudi government.
Those reported to have been detained include:
- Former Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf, a board member of the Saudi Aramco oil company
- Economy Minister Adel Fakieh
- Former Riyadh governor Prince Turki bin Abdullah
- Former head of the royal court Khalid al-Tuwaijiri
- Bakr bin Laden, chairman of the Saudi Binladin construction group, and brother of suspected 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden
Some of the detainees are being held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in the diplomatic quarter of Riyadh, sources in contact with the government told Reuters news agency.
What do we know about Crown Prince Mohammed?
Few people outside Saudi Arabia had heard of Prince Mohammed bin Salman before his father became king in 2015. But since then, the 32-year-old has become the most influential figure in the world's leading oil exporter
Last year, Prince Mohammed unveiled a wide-ranging plan to bring social and economic change to the oil-dependent kingdom.
anti-corruption committee was formed by royal decree and is headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
He recently said the return of "moderate Islam" was key to his plans to modernise Saudi Arabia.
Addressing an economic conference in Riyadh, he vowed to "eradicate the remnants of extremism very soon".
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