Month: April 2019

Exactly a year ago, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, was on top of the world. 

Or more specifically, he was on stage at the first “Davos in the Desert” investment summit in Riyadh, happily discussing his plans for a $500 billion (£385 billion) new Saudi mega city. 

Western politicians and international business leaders flocked to hear the young prince describe his vision of a reformed Saudi economy and of a gentler society freed from the grip of hardline clerics.  

Today, Crown Prince Mohammed at the centre of an international storm over allegations that he ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. 

The same global elites who raced to Riyadh last year are nowhere to be seen this year. The conference hall at the Ritz-Carlton hotel remains packed but few of the attendees are from major US or European firms.

The fall from international favour is the latest dramatic turn in the life of the 33-year-old heir to the throne, who has gone in a few short years from an unknown royal to one of the Middle East’s most powerful men. 

Widely known by his initials “MBS”, Crown Prince Mohammed is one of the younger sons of the current monarch King Salman and a favourite among his 13 children. 

He has been groomed for leadership ever since King Salman took the throne in 2015, and unlike many of his siblings he was educated in Saudi Arabia not in the West.

He was appointed defence minister at the age 29 but his authority has spread to almost all corners of the Saudi government, earning him the nickname “Mr Everything” from some foreign diplomats.

His 82-year-old father is declining mentally and has handed his son broad powers over the economy. MBS has also been a driving force behind Saudi Arabia’s more aggressive foreign policy, including its disastrous bombing campaign in Yemen and the diplomatic effort to isolate Qatar. 

In June last year, King Salman moved dramatically to re-order the Saudi line of succession and shift the direction of the kingdom’s future. He removed the serving crown prince, his 58-year-old nephew Mohammed bin Nayaf, and gave the title to MBS instead. 

The decision overturned years of tradition in which the Saudi crown is passed sideways from brother-to-brother or cousin-to-cousin and instead set Saudi Arabia on a course where the son would inherit the father’s throne. 

In 17 months since Crown Prince Mohammed was elevated, he has moved with unbridled aggression both at home and abroad, smashing what had previously been a slow-moving Saudi governing system based on consensus among the elite.  

He pushed through high-profile social reforms, like allowing women to drive and re-opening cinemas, although he has done little to ease the guardianship laws which severely restrict the rights of female Saudi citizens. 

Unlike his father, Crown Prince Mohammed has only one wife, a princess named Sara bint Mashoor. Little is known about her but the couple are believed to have four children.  

In November last year, he announced an “anti-corruption” drive which saw Saudi police arrest many of his fellow princes and some of the kingdom’s leading business figures. Analysts saw the move as an effort to consolidate power and crush any potential rivals. 

At the same time, Crown Prince Mohammed summoned Saad Hariri, the Lebanese prime minister, and effectively imprisoned him in Saudi Arabia and ordered him to resign his position in protest at Iran’s influence in Lebanon.   

Mr Hariri was eventually freed and resumed his post after the intervention of France and other Western powers. But the crown prince did not pay any major price for flouting of international norms. 

All the while, Saudi Arabia continued its three-year bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen. While human rights groups criticised the kingdom for the level of civilian casualties and for a devastating blockade that has fueled famine, MBS has retained the backing of the US and UK. 

His support from Donald Trump, the US president, and his close relationship with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, has insulated him from opponents at home and abroad. 

One of the key questions of the Khashoggi crisis is whether the White House will rethink the trust it has put in a man it sees as a dynamic reformer, a reliable opponent of Iran, and a potential lynchpin of a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.   

Even if the White House stands by him, his international reputation has certainly been tarnished for the time being. 

In the summer of 2018 he embarked on a high-profile tour of the US and met with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, and other leading figures from Hollywood and Silicon Valley. 

These same figures are unlikely to agree to another photo opportunity with the crown prince while Mr Khashoggi’s murder is fresh in the public mind, although they will likely quietly continue do business with the kingdom. 

Crown Prince Mohammed is likely to keep a lower profile for the time being as he licks his wounds and reflects on Western leaders who have not stood by him. Expect the Kremlin to aggressively court the young leader and whisper to him that the US and Europe cannot be relied upon. 

The US has charged two former Goldman Sachs bankers and a fugitive Malaysian financier in connection with one of the world’s biggest financial scandals. 

The Department of Justice (DoJ) accused the men of participating in a scheme that stole billions of dollars from Malaysia’s economic development fund, 1MDB. 

The alleged embezzlement, which authorities say was used to buy Van Gogh paintings and finance Hollywood films, has already contributed to the downfall of the Malaysian prime minister. 

The indictment charges Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, who is also known  as Jho Low, with misappropriating money from the state-owned fund and using it for bribes and kickbacks to foreign officials. 

Some of the funds were also laundered through luxury real estate purchases, art and jewelry in the US as well as through funding movies, including "The  Wolf of Wall Street" starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the DoJ said.

Prosecutors also charged former Goldman Sachs banker, Tim Leissner, 48, who pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and to conspiring to violating foreign bribery laws. 

A former director at the bank, Ng Chong Hwa, 51, also known as Roger Ng, was arrested on Thursday in Malaysia and accused of circumventing internal accounting controls, prosecutors said. 

In 2016, the DoJ moved to recover more than $1 billion that it said had been stolen, filing a civil complaint that sought the forfeiture of property including a Manhattan penthouse, a Beverly Hills mansion, a luxury  jet and paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet. 

The money was supposed to support development projects, but prosecutors said the trio "conspired to launder" more than $2.7bn through the US financial system, and used this money to pay bribes and "for the personal benefit of themselves and their relatives". 

Thursday’s charges are the first arising from a global financial scandal which has sparked investigations in at least six countries and contributed  to the fall of the last Malaysian government in May. 

The former prime minister, Najib Razak, is facing multiple charges of money-laundering and criminal breach of trust over the handling of the state-run 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, which he created. If convicted, he could be jailed for decades. 

His wife, Rosmah Mansor, has also been charged with money laundering. Both deny any wrongdoing. 

The corruption allegations triggered an electoral earthquake that toppled Mr Najib’s long-ruling coalition and ushered in a reformist alliance headed by his former mentor Mahathir Mohamad, 93. 

A family friend of Mr Najib, Mr Low had no official role at 1MDB but had considerable influence over its dealings and was often in contact with Mr Najib, according to US authorities. 

Mr Low has previously denied charges filed in Malaysia, adding that it  would be "impossible" for him to receive a fair trial there. 

The Telegraph has contacted lawyers for Mr Low, who has been at large since  July, and Mr Leissner but has not yet received a response. It is unclear if Mr Ng has a lawyer. 

A spokesman for Goldman Sachs, which the indictment says earned about $600 million in fees and revenues and underwrote more than $6 billion in bonds issued by 1MDB, said: “The firm continues to cooperate with all authorities investigating this matter.”

The charges came as Malaysia’s anti-corruption body announced it is hunting for a British public relations consultant Paul Stadlen in connection to the  financial scandal. 

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Thursday appealed for the public’s help in locating the 39-year-old, who acted as a spokesman for Mr Najib. 

The MACC suggested that Mr Stadlen could be a key witness in the high-profile case, the Malay Mail reported. 

The MACC did not respond to questions from The Telegraph, and Mr Stadlen could not be reached. 

A rescue operation is now underway to save a British yachtswoman who has become stranded thousands of miles from land during a round-the-world race.

Susie Goodall was taking part in the arduous Golden Globe Race – a single-handed non-stop race around the world – when her yacht capsized and dismasted in a storm in the south Pacific.

Disaster struck when her yacht was wrecked 2,000 miles west of the southern tip of South America after it was pitch-poled – turned end-over-end – by a huge wave.

Coastguards in Ms Goodall’s home town of Falmouth, Cornwall, say they have now received news of the activation of her emergency beacon and a rescue operation, coordinated by the authorities in Chile, is now under way.

Ms Goodall, 29, has also tweeted that she had banged her head but was otherwise uninjured.

However her yacht DHL Starlight has been smashed up and she reported she was "clinging to her bunk" awaiting for rescue.

Her position is so remote that the nearest vessel, a Hong Kong-registered cargo ship, is not expected to arrive at her location until 5am (UK time) on Friday.

Speaking to race HQ she said: "I have been dismasted. Thought I had holed the hull because the boat filled with water, but the hull is NOT holed. The hull is ok. The boat is destroyed. I can’t make up a jury rig.

"The only thing left is the hull and deck which remain intact. We were pitchpoled and I was thrown across the cabin and knocked out for a while."

In a statement Susie Goodall Sailing said: "We are extremely saddened by the incident which took place on December 5 on board Susie Goodall’s boat DHL Starlight.

"The safety of Susie is of utmost importance. From the information we have available at this time we know that Susie was sailing in the Pacific Ocean, 2,000 miles west of Cape Horn in 60 knot winds when her wind vane broke.

"The exact height of the waves is unknown, but massive seas reported. She deployed her drogue [sea anchor] to steady the boat, but that failed.

"She was in the cabin when the boat pitchpoled, sending her and the boat’s contents flying forward and knocking her unconscious for a period of time.

"She sustained a minor head injury and spent the following hours removing the rigging debris to prevent further boat damage. The hull of the boat is unbreached, and Susie is safe.

"The Chilean authorities are coordinating a rescue effort, and have requested assistance from a ship 480 miles South West of Susie’s position. Her captain expects to take 2 days to reach the area.

"Up until today, Susie was attempting to sail around the world solo as part of the Golden Globe Race.

"Susie Goodall Racing would like to thank the race support team for their help during this time.

"The family are in regular contact with the Golden Globe Race team and have spoken to Susie since the incident."

Ms Goodall is an experienced sailing instructor who was originally from the West Midlands but now lives in Falmouth.

Speaking of her love of sailing, she wrote: "The first time I was in a boat I was three years old.

"My family have always sailed and I grew up sailing with them, spending all our family holidays on boats then at weekends I would race at my local sailing club, Himley Hall.

"I got my first boat when I was 11 – a Laser 1. And I loved it! I raced it in a fleet against other clubs in the area until at 17 I moved to the Isle of Wight to work as a sailing instructor.

"Reality struck me when I had to sell my beloved Laser in order to pay for some additional courses. So much love and care had gone into that boat to keep her afloat so I was so sad to have to let her go.

"I then went on to teach watersports for a few years both in the UK and Australia before moving onto yacht training at about 20.

"My first job on a yacht was when I was 21 in Australia and from there I hopped about on a few different boats, both sail and motor, before joining Rubicon 3 as Mate.

"I was on there for three years with my final two as skipper which was brilliant as I prefer the sailing training and expedition work and this took me to amazing places such as Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard and the Baltic.

"When I was little I heard about these people who sailed around the world on their own, for fun, and I knew I wanted to do that one day too.

"So when I first heard there was going to be a re-run of the Golden Globe Race, my mind was made up and I was going to be on that start line."

Ms Goodall won sponsorship from worldwide courier DHL and bought her boat, a Rustler 36 Ariadne, in which she completed a double Atlantic solo crossing in 2017.

She returned the boat to Rustler Yachts in Falmouth where it was refitted, and then renamed DHL Starlight, in preparation for the 2018 Golden Globe Race.

Papua New Guinea police and soldiers stormed the country’s parliament Tuesday, smashing windows and furniture and demanding unpaid APEC bonuses just days after the international summit wrapped up, police and witnesses said.

The impoverished Pacific nation had rolled out the red carpet for visiting world leaders during the two-day conference, and even bought 40 Maseratis to ferry the dignitaries around.

"A group of policemen and soldiers are outside the parliament and demanding their APEC allowances," PNG police spokesman Dominic Kakas told AFP. He said that other police were "dealing with it".

No-one was known to be hurt, Kakas said, adding that he did not yet know how many police and soldiers were involved in the incident in the nation’s capital, Port Moresby.

A witness outside parliament told AFP "hundreds of police and troops" were standing on the front steps of parliament protesting that they had not been paid a special APEC allowance of 350 kina (US$104).

"The scene outside parliament is very tense. There are dozens of police cars and army vehicles," the witness said, adding that a nearby hotel was in lockdown and the protesters were blocking traffic.

Footage posted by PNG MP Bryan Kramer on Facebook showed smashed pot plants, photo frames knocked to the floor and broken glass and furniture near the parliament’s entrance.

Some locals in PNG, the poorest member of APEC, had expressed anger with the government’s lavish expense for the summit, which came at a time when the developing nation of eight million people is battling a polio outbreak and the resurgence of malaria, while struggling to pay its teachers.

An Egyptian actress is to face trial for appearing at a film festival wearing a revealing dress.

Rania Youssef was charged with inciting “immorality and promoting vice”, after a group of lawyers made a complaint to the country’s chief prosecutor.

The 44-year-old appeared at Cairo Film Festival on Thursday wearing a black leotard covered by a see-through overdress with criss-cross detailing and a large bow belt.

Three lawyers accused her of committing an obscene act in public, “inciting debauchery and temptation”, and “spreading vice in ways that violate established norms in Egyptian society.”

The pictures of the star, who is known for her role in a number of popular Egyptian TV series, left social media users divided, with some calling her names and other defending her right to wear what she wants.

“This dress and design is called ‘I forgot my trousers while going to be honoured,” wrote one Twitter user.

Another Twitter user writing under the name Zakaria MJ frowned at the criticism.

“Rania Youssef is looking gorgeous,” he wrote in a message in English. “I don’t get why everybody is mad at her.”

Ms Youssef had just finished shooting for the film "Aswar Aaliya" (High Fences), in which she plays the role of a famous artist who is sent to prison.

She will be tried on January 12 in a court in Cairo, where she faces up to five years if convicted.

Ms Youssef’s arrest is the latest in a long line of cases of Egyptians falling foul of the country’s more religious elements.

Egypt is a mostly conservative country with a Muslim majority. The Arab country has retained vestiges of secularism despite decades of growing religious conservatism, but Ms Youssef’s case serves as a reminder that Islamic fundamentalism still pervades society five years after an Islamist president was ousted by the military.

An Egyptian court last year sentenced little-known singer Shyma to two years for inciting debauchery, after she appeared in a music video in her underwear suggestively eating a banana.

In 2016, author Ahmed Naji was handed a two-year prison sentence after being charged with obscenity for publishing a book with references to sex and drugs.

Prosecutors said he "violated public modesty" with his novel The Use Of Life but was soon released and his sentence was suspended following an appeal to a Cairo court.

Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, lied to the FBI and special counsel investigators after pleading guilty to federal charges, breaching his plea agreement, according to a court filing on Monday.

Manafort said in the same filing he disagreed with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s assertion that he lied to investigators.

Both the special counsel and Manafort’s lawyers agreed there was no reason to delay his sentencing and asked the court to set a date for that.

Mueller, who is probing Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign, said in the filing that after signing a plea agreement: "Manafort committed federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Special Counsel’s Office on a variety of subject matters."

Mueller said in the filing that those lies breached Manafort’s plea agreement.

Manafort’s attorneys said in the same filing that Manafort had met with the government on several occasions and provided information "in an effort to live up to his cooperation obligations."

They said Manafort disagreed with the characterisation that he had breached the agreement.

The breakdown in the plea deal raises the prospect that Manafort is seeking to protect others who worked on Trump’s campaign and to curry favor with the president, said former federal prosecutor David Weinstein.

"It seems to me he’s angling for the pardon," he said.

Manafort, a longtime Republican political consultant who made tens of millions of dollars working for pro-Kremlin politicians in Ukraine, ran the Trump campaign as it took off in mid-2016.

He attended a meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 with a group of Russians offering damaging information on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who lost in an upset to Mr Trump in the presidential vote that November.

Since September this year when he took a plea deal in return for reduced charges, Manafort has been cooperating with Mueller’s inquiry.

Russia denies US allegations it hacked Democratic Party emails and ran a disinformation campaign, largely on social media. Trump denies any campaign collusion and calls the investigation a political witch hunt.

Europe must get a grip on immigration, Hillary Clinton has warned, to prevent Right-wing populists such as Donald Trump from being elected ever again.

Mrs Clinton praised the compassion towards asylum seekers shown by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. But she said that Right-wing populists were using fears of uncontrolled floods of illegal immigrants to boost their own electoral chances, and said that this was a driving force for Brexit.

“I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame,” she told The Guardian.

“I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like Angela Merkel, but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message – ‘we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support’ – because if we don’t deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic.”

Mrs Clinton, who has spent her time since losing the 2016 election writing a book, and is about to embark on a 13-city speaking tour with her husband, said Mr Trump had exploited concerns about immigration during the campaign and in office.

“The use of immigrants as a political device and as a symbol of government gone wrong, of attacks on one’s heritage, one’s identity, one’s national unity has been very much exploited by the current administration here,” she said.

She said that politicians should not resort to attacking the media or their political rivals to further their aims.

In a pointed dig at Mr Trump, she warned against “seeking financial and political help from Russia to support your political parties and movements.”

She added that Brexit – which she described as the biggest act of national economic self-harm in modern history – “was largely about immigration”.

Tony Blair, who was speaking alongside Mrs Clinton and the former Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, as part of a series on centrist politicians, agreed that immigration concerns were paving the way for Right-wing electoral success.

“You’ve got to deal with the legitimate grievances and answer them, which is why today in Europe you cannot possibly stand for election unless you’ve got a strong position on immigration because people are worried about it,” he said.

“You’ve got to answer those problems. If you don’t answer them then … you leave a large space into which the populists can march.”

He added that centrist parties had not yet found a way to counter the arguments of Right-wing populists.

“I don’t think it’s reached its peak,” he said, when asked about the electoral success of populists globally. “I think it will peak, in my view, when the centre ground recovers its mojo and has a strong forward agenda.”

Mrs Clinton said Right-wing populists in the West exploited a desire which was “psychological as much as political" to have easy answers to their concerns.

She said: "They want to be told what to do and where to go and how to live … and only given one version of reality."