Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is chaired by its crown prince, is being used to facilitate and whitewash a wide range of human rights abuses, according to a new report.
The report, titled “The Man Who Bought the World: Rights Abuses Linked to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Its Chairman, Mohammad bin Salman”, was published on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch.
It found that the fund was effectively controlled by one person, Mohammed bin Salman, and was being used to enable mass rights violations including forced displacement, torture and the killing of a high-profile journalist.
The 95-page document drew on government statements, court documents, company records and reports, and interviews with journalists, experts and lawyers.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is thought to be worth around $900bn, making it one of the wealthiest sovereign wealth funds in the world.
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Such funds, often built on oil wealth, are used by states to accumulate revenue and diversify portfolios through domestic and global investments.
Just months after becoming crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman used the wealth fund to tighten his grip on power, the report noted, during the Ritz-Carlton purge launched in November 2017.
In what was dubbed an “anti-corruption drive”, 200 powerful Saudi businesspeople, royals and senior officials were initially arrested and taken to the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh.
There they were detained, and some were abused, until they handed over proportions of their assets to the wealth fund.
Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah, son of the late King Abdullah and once seen as a possible crown prince, was tortured and beaten, sources told Middle East Eye at the time. One Saudi general was reportedly tortured to death.
‘Unchecked control’
Saudi officials said around $106bn was seized from 381 individuals during the one-and-a-half-year purge, though the figure is disputed.
Among those who lost control of their business was tycoon Nasser al-Tayyar, who ran one of the largest travel agencies in Saudi Arabia.
‘Mohammed bin Salman has unchecked control over the country’s nearly trillion-dollar Public Investment Fund’
– Joey Shea, HRW
Earlier this month, MEE interviewed a former senior employee at Al Tayyar travel agency, Ahmed Abdul Majeed, who said he was forced to work for free and sell his family’s assets to earn his freedom.
Abdul Majeed said his experience was akin to modern-day slavery. He held the PIF and Mohammed bin Salman responsible for his ordeal.
The report said that the crown prince overhauled the governance of the PIF to concentrate power and oversight into his own hands, enabling him to direct enormous sums of wealth into megaprojects.
“Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has unchecked control over the country’s nearly trillion-dollar Public Investment Fund,” said Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“The crown prince has used the Saudi sovereign wealth fund’s economic power to commit serious human rights violations and whitewash the reputational harm from these abuses.”
Complicity in murder and forced displacement
The PIF was linked to the brutal murder of former Middle East Eye journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents in October 2018.
Two private jets used by the Saudi hit squad were owned by Sky Prime Aviation, which the sovereign wealth fund had taken control of during the purge a year earlier.
After Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the killers made their escape using the planes.
The report notes that major projects funded by the PIF have involved abuses of some of the most marginalised communities in Saudi Arabia.
That includes the Neom project, a new megacity being built in the northwest of the kingdom, which organisers claim will be 33 times the size of New York City.
The Saudi government has been accused of forcibly displacing members of the Howeitat tribe, who have lived for centuries in the region of Tabuk, to make way for Neom.
At least 47 members of the tribe have been arrested or detained for resisting eviction, including five who have been sentenced to death, according to a report by the UK-based Alqst rights group.
In April 2020, tribal activist Abdul Rahim al-Howeiti was shot dead shortly after making videos protesting against his eviction to make way for the megacity.
In May, MEE reported that Saudi security officers were ordered to use lethal force to kill people who resisted eviction from areas earmarked for the city, according to a former Saudi intelligence officer.
Meanwhile, the Jeddah Central Development Company, which is entirely owned by the wealth fund and is redeveloping the port city, has carried out demolitions of homes and forcibly evicted hundreds of thousands of working-class people who have received little to no compensation.
Soft power influence
Human Rights Watch also stated that the PIF was being used to invest in projects to be utilised by Saudi Arabia as a soft power tool to wield influence around the world.
That includes its purchase of the English football club Newcastle United, which is now majority-owned by the PIF.
Whilst most fans of the club have been thrilled by the sudden injection of Saudi money, a small section of supporters have spoken to MEE about their discomfort at their team being associated with human rights abuses.
Yasir al-Rumayyan, chairman of Newcastle United and governor of the PIF, reportedly ordered the seizure and transfer of 20 companies to the sovereign wealth fund during the Ritz-Carlton purge.
The wealth fund is also involved in the controversial LIV Golf series, as well as Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the 2034 World Cup.
HRW found that such investments spread disinformation about the kingdom’s human rights records, garner uncritical support for its policies, silence critics and undermine those seeking accountability.
It called on global businesses to assess their associations with the wealth fund.
“Businesses with ties to the Saudi Public Investment Fund have a responsibility to end their engagement with it if serious human rights violations connected with the PIF are unavoidable,” Shea said.
MEE reached out to the PIF for comment on the report’s findings, but did not receive a reply at the time of publication.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
