UK Foreign Office official floated idea of giving honour to Saudi royals fixer
The Guardian|March 13, 2024
A Foreign Office official floated the idea of giving an honour to a businessman who was later alleged to have helped facilitate millions of pounds of bribes to a Saudi prince and his high-ranking associates.
Rob Evans and David Pegg
UK Foreign Office official floated idea of giving honour to Saudi royals fixer

Salah Fustok was alleged by UK anti-corruption prosecutors to have been a middleman for nearly £10m of payments to Prince Miteb bin Abdullah and other Saudi officials as "an inducement or reward" for the awarding of a contract by the Saudi Arabian national guard.

The Fustok family's close relationship to the Saudi royal family was outlined in court documents as part of a long-running British criminal prosecution.

It was in this case that the court heard allegations that Fustok, 85, and other members of his family had been considered by British officials to be important middlemen in commercial deals involving the Saudi royal family stretching back to the 1960s.

A document shown in court detailed how in 2012 a senior diplomat suggested Fustok could be given an honour by the British government to improve its relationship with him. Fustok, who has interests in Britain, including a Cambridgeshire stud farm, felt "sour" having been "dumped" as an adviser to BAE, Britain's biggest arms company, according to the diplomat.

This story is from the March 13, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the March 13, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM THE GUARDIANView All
‘We demand a decision now’ Everton shareholders call for an end to 777’s takeover farce’
The Guardian

‘We demand a decision now’ Everton shareholders call for an end to 777’s takeover farce’

Everton shareholders have urged the club’s owner, Farhad Moshiri, and the Premier League to end the farce” of a proposed takeover by 777 Partners after the troubled company was accused of fraud worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

time-read
1 min  |
May 08, 2024
Ancelotti to spur on Madrid in search of revenge
The Guardian

Ancelotti to spur on Madrid in search of revenge

Carlo Ancelotti said he was on the \"good side\" of European football's grandest rivalry and, on the eve of the Champions League semi-final second leg between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, revealed the Bavarian club did not support him when he was coach.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 08, 2024
Ten Hag exit may be inevitable but when will the cycle stop?
The Guardian

Ten Hag exit may be inevitable but when will the cycle stop?

Change is surely coming with Manchester United playing so badly, so often, but this is a club trapped in constant transition, writes

time-read
5 mins  |
May 08, 2024
'I contemplated what my life would be without tennis'
The Guardian

'I contemplated what my life would be without tennis'

Jack Draper on his coaching experiment, his long climb up the rankings and why he considered quitting the sport

time-read
4 mins  |
May 08, 2024
US regulator investigates Boeing over quality tests on 787 planes
The Guardian

US regulator investigates Boeing over quality tests on 787 planes

Boeing faces a new investigation after the planemaker told US regulators it might have failed to carry out some quality inspections properly on its 787 Dreamliner planes.

time-read
1 min  |
May 08, 2024
Disney plans to scale back Marvel films to 'focus more on quality'
The Guardian

Disney plans to scale back Marvel films to 'focus more on quality'

Disney said yesterday it planned to release fewer movies and \"focus more on quality\" in its key franchises after a string of high-profile flops at the box office.

time-read
1 min  |
May 08, 2024
P&O Ferries boss asked if he is modern pirate’ for paying crew 4.87 an hour
The Guardian

P&O Ferries boss asked if he is modern pirate’ for paying crew 4.87 an hour

The boss of P&O Ferries has been asked if he is \"a pirate\" who appears to be \"robbing staff blind\" - as he confirmed to MPs that the group's seafarers have been paid rates lower than he previously told parliament.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 08, 2024
Woman pleads not guilty to mushroom poisonings
The Guardian

Woman pleads not guilty to mushroom poisonings

Erin Patterson, a woman accused of murdering and attempting to murder her relatives by serving them a meal laced with deadly mushrooms, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 08, 2024
Venezuela is first country to lose all of its glaciers in modern era
The Guardian

Venezuela is first country to lose all of its glaciers in modern era

Venezuela has lost its last remaining glacier as it shrunk so much that scientists reclassified it as an ice patch.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 08, 2024
Death toll hits 90 in southern Brazil's worst climate disaster
The Guardian

Death toll hits 90 in southern Brazil's worst climate disaster

The death toll from what authorities are calling the worst climate disaster ever to strike southern Brazil has risen to 90, after ferocious rain flooded huge stretches of Rio Grande do Sul state, displacing more than 155,000 people.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 08, 2024