Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Saudi Crackdown Widens as More Bank Accounts Frozen

 Crown Prince Mohammed Salman
There is certainly power consolidation considerations in Saudi Arabia by Crown Prince Mohammed Salman with the arrest over the weekend of princes, officials and billionaires but it also is beginning to look like a full-out massive money grab.

In addition to funds of those arrested, the Saudi central bank has ordered
banks in the kingdom to freeze the accounts of many, many individuals who aren’t under arrest, according to Bloomberg.

According to Bloomberg, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority sent a list of hundreds of names to banks, telling them to freeze any accounts linked to them---which could add billions more to the $33 billion detainee money already frozen.

Funds frozen include those of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world’s richest men and a shareholder in such global companies as Citigroup Inc. and Apple Inc.

“It’s almost the equivalent of arresting Bill Gates to have Prince Alwaleed bin Talal under arrest,” Robert Jordan, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told Bloomberg TV.

President Donald Trump bizarrely supports the purge.

  -RW

UPDATE

Via Reuters:

Saudi Arabian banks have frozen more than 1,200 accounts belonging to individuals and companies in the kingdom as part of the government’s anti-corruption purge, bankers and lawyers said on Tuesday.

They added that the number is continuing to rise.

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