Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1525812
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 AUGUST 2024 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Expression of Interest For more info visit micas.art/get-involved or contact people@micas.art micas.art Closing at noon on Monday 2 nd September 2024 Structured Cabling and Network Infrastructure Installation Saudi spymaster with Malta passport can pursue U.S. claim against persecutors A United States court will con- tinue hearing a civil claim filed by the holder of Maltese 'golden passport' against Saudi kingdom operatives he accuses of having masterminded his attempted as- sassination. Saad Al Jabri, a former Saudi spymaster who became a Mal- tese citizen through its citizen- ship-by-investment scheme but who lives in Canada, sued Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and other defendants, al- leging that they tracked him down and tried to kill him because of his relationship to the former Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. The case, filed in Washington D.C., was dismissed back in Oc- tober 2022, with the the court arguing that the Saudi defendants had little connection to the Unit- ed States, and that Al Jabri was not actually in the United States when they sought to kill him. Al Jabri's complaint alleges that MBS and his officials, including a network of U.S. students, hired a mercenary group – the "Tiger Squad" – to locate and kill him in Canada, where he lives in exile fol- lowing the ascent of MBS. Al Jabri enjoyed a close rela- tionship with the previous Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who was ousted by MBS. As spymaster he enjoyed close contacts with U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials. For these reasons, Al Jabri says MBS sought to have him eliminat- ed, or lure him to return to Saudi Arabia, where two of his children are living under house arrest. A court of appeal revived the case last month: it still granted MBS, as prime minister of Saudi Arabi, immunity as a head of state, but it said the aides suspected of masterminding the assassination plot should still be liable for the civil claim and allowed the court case to continue. The Al Jabri case is the subject of various lawsuits, including one in Malta in a bid to claw back any as- sets the Saudi exile owned on the island. Previously, a Massachusetts court in 2022 dismissed a case by the Saudi kingdom against Al Jabri, after a rarely used inter- vention from the United States government to stop the release of classified information, which pre- vented the case from proceeding. The case was filed by a group of Saudi state-owned firms, accusing Al Jabri of embezzling billions of dollars. The firms, part of the Sak- ab Group, are owned by the Saudi state sovereign wealth fund, and have been used as fronts for clan- destine security operations with the United States. The U.S. took the extraordinary step of invoking the state secrets privilege to halt the release of classified information deemed harmful to national security, after noting Al Jabri's intention to "de- scribe information concerning al- leged national security activities." In a parallel court case in Malta, the Sakab Saudi Holding Compa- ny was also trying to stop Al Jabri and his Cayman Islands company Ten Leaves Management, from selling a Tigné Point apartment in Sliema. Sakab is attempting to secure €10 million in damages from Al Jabri, demanding a freeze on the sale of the Tigné Point apartment as "an expectation of damages" against Al Jabri's estate. Sakab claims Al Jabri's wealth is the result "of criminal acts, mis- leading and fraudulent, intended to allow him to steal and misap- propriate assets or money belong- ing to the plaintiff company in breach of fiduciary obligations." Al Jabri said the Sakab payments he had received had been au- thorised by his former employer, Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, and that the Tigné Point property was acquired only after the Mal- tese authorities carried out a due diligence exercise as part of his cit- izenship application. The Malta court ruled that as long as the plaintiff company was insisting that it had been defraud- ed and that it was not true that the transfer of funds to the defendant had been authorised, it had a pri- ma facie right required by law. Appeals court allows Saad Al Jabri, a former Saudi spymaster who became a Maltese citizen through its citizenship-by- investment scheme, to pursue claim against operatives he accuses of trying to kill him Saad Al Jabri