BFF   

“Yet the prince’s name was uttered during the trial only once, and only in part, by his butler. His full name is Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd. He is the youngest and assumed favorite son of King Fahd, who died in 2005 after 23 years leading Saudi Arabia. The prince’s wealth is thought to be in the billions. He has few, if any, official responsibilities and appears to focus mostly on bouncing around the globe with his large entourage, said Simon Henderson, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who has written about the royal family……… “We’re not talking about the top 1 percent,” Aaron Mysliwiec, a defense lawyer, said. “We’re talking about Michael Bloomberg kind of wealth.” One of the Plaza’s owners is Prince Walid bin Talal, Prince Abdul Aziz’s more famous cousin, who is among the largest single shareholders in Citigroup and in News Corporation, the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch……… Testimony revealed that some part of that entourage was supplied by the “V.I.P.” unit of Saudi Oger, a large construction and telecommunications company. The unit exists to travel with the prince and cater to his desires, the head of the unit testified………… The ties between Saudi Oger and Prince Abdul Aziz are well known in Saudi Arabia. The company was founded by Rafiq Hariri, who built Saudi Oger into a large company by winning the trust and business of King Fahd………”

I wrote here that Lebanese media reported a couple of weeks ago that the Saudi king gifted, “gave”, Saad Hariri US$2 billion, just like that. Maybe a gift for Valentine’s Day. Hariri denied it, but in Lebanon, a secret doesn’t last long. Like this old saying that I just made up: “A secret doesn’t remain a secret in two places, one of them is Lebanon”. You can try and guess what the other place is but then someone, possibly your spouse, might ask “How did you know?“

Hariri was reportedly unwelcome in his hometown of Riyadh for some time. He had angered the Saudi princes by describing Prince Nayef (Interior Minister and now Crown Prince) as a “bloodthirsty butcher” behind his back. That was during a meeting with some European bureaucrat related to the STL Hariri tribunal. Unfortunately for him, that meeting was recorded and televised by al-Jadeed TV last year.
As for the allegations of rape, I have no idea.
FYI: Saudi Oger is pronounced like “O Jay” not like “Ogre”.
Cheers
mhg


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