Posted on 02/10/2008 12:45:26 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
February 10, 2008
Saudi royal Prince Bandar Bin Sultan's assets frozen
Grant Ringshaw
PRINCE Bandar Bin Sultan, the former Saudi Arabian ambassador to America, has been hit by a court order in effect freezing some of his US assets, as part of a class-action lawsuit over bribery allegations at British defence giant BAE Systems.
A Michigan pension scheme ? the City of Harper Woods Employees’ Retirement System ? has been granted a restraining order, according to documents filed in the US district of Columbia and seen by The Sunday Times.
The order, granted last Tuesday, blocks Bandar from transferring out of the country any money he makes from the sale of property in America.
Bandar owns one of the world’s most expensive homes, Hala Ranch, in Pitkin County, Aspen, Colorado. The bulk of the estate was put up for sale for $135m (£69m) in July 2006 after Bandar reportedly decided he was spending too much time in Saudi Arabia to take advantage of the lavish property.
The 56,000 sq ft main residence is bigger than the White House and has 15 bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, an indoor swimming pool, steam and exercise rooms and includes a private children’s wing with four bedroom suites and a sitting room. The estate spans 95 acres, includes two 15,000 sq ft guest houses, tennis and racquetball courts and equestrian facilities. It even has a dedicated waste-water treatment plant, a car wash and petrol pumps.
The latest move comes after the pension scheme launched a class-action suit on behalf of rebel investors last September against the BAE board, as well as former directors and Bandar.
The case centres on allegations that bribes worth $2 billion were paid to Saudi officials, including Bandar, as part of BAE’s agreement to supply military aircraft and other equipment to Saudi Arabia.
The lawsuit accuses BAE directors of “intentional, reckless and negligent breaches of their fiduciary duty”.
BAE has strongly denied making illegal payments, while Bandar has consistently rejected the allegations.
Sources close to the civil action said the pension scheme had become concerned that Bandar could seek to move funds out of America.
Blair’s people squashed investigation of this in the UK for as long as possible. Haven’t heard a word about it for over a year then in January a flurry of new legal activity on the cases.
The Brits were bribing the House of Saud for 30 years straight. Now all the confidential papers will be aired out by British media. It should be one heck of a tabloid sensation, right up there with the French TotalFinaElf scandal.
Geez 56000 square feet!?!....Guess it beats driving a camel and sleeping in a tent...and that sand just gets everywhere ya know.
Every upper level bureaucrat and politician is owned by the arabs. This includes GB, US and France not to mention Germany. Carter and the Clintons are noxious in their pursuit of foreign arab cash. OUr entire political landscape is painted with arab cash. McCain may be the only politician too psycho to take arab money.
“McCain may be the only politician too psycho to take arab money.”
The Mexicans have a long term contract on McCain with options to extend.
“McCain may be the only politician too psycho to take arab money.”
McCain has been on the payroll of the Mohammedan terrorist KLA from Kosovo and Albania for years. Its a safe bet that what money they don’t have from drugs and sex slavery comes from the Saudis. McCain may love these terrorists even more than Clinton did. And he loves them at least as much as their godfather Bush does.
So a private company bribes a foreign government to award a defence contract to them. If it wasn’t for the fact I’m a bit dubious about selling hi-res military hardware to a country like Saudi Arabia, I would say it’s an issue for the taxpayers of Saudia Arabia, not us....
It's an issue for the stockholders of the company, regardless of where they are. And it's the stockholders who are making it an issue, not the general 'us'.
John Edwards will be green with envy.
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