Apparently, despite the Saudis alleged leaking of Jeff Bezos’ intimate texts as retribution for his newspaper’s aggressive coverage of the Khashoggi murder, the Amazon founder has remained unfazed, and on Tuesday, the Washington Post published its latest scoop in the ongoing saga of murder and deception.
As the international outcry over Khashoggi’s killing, and the suspected involvement of Saudi Crown Prince MbS, continues to fade, WaPo reports that the kingdom has provided generous financial settlements to Khashoggi’s children, including multi-million dollar homes and five-figure monthly payouts, in what the paper describes as an arrangement to keep them from speaking out against the Kingdom.
Salah Khashoggi shakes hands with MbS
In addition, the two sons and two daughters of the slain former government insider-turned-dissident – whom the kingdom has said was accidentally murdered during a botched rendition attempt inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul (though WaPo’s reporting has established that US intelligence believes MbS personally ordered the hit) – could receive a payout worth tens of millions of dollars in a “blood money” settlement – that is, if they’re willing to forgive their father’s alleged killers.
If the men are convicted and sentenced to death, the Saudi system of justice could allow the Khashoggi family members to grant their father’s killers clemency as part of a “blood money” arrangement in which they might then be entitled to tens of millions of dollars.
It is unclear whether Khashoggi’s children would be required to forgive or absolve the killers to collect the payments.
Former Saudi officials and experts said that the royal court and government have incentives to seek such an agreement and avoid a situation in which only low-level operatives are executed for their role in a plot that was developed and orchestrated from high levels of government.
But with the trial’s conclusion still months away, the Kingdom has been doling out the payments and awards to “make a wrong right”. In return, the siblings have refrained from criticizing the kingdom, even neglecting to assign blame during an editorial published in the Washington Post.
Of course, Americans who have watched the hit TV show “the Sopranos” might recognize this tactic: During its heyday, the mafia routinely “took care” of the families of members murdered for suspected transgressions.
What’s more, King Salman reportedly personally approved the payments and the gifts of the multi-million dollar homes last year.
The Khashoggi siblings have refrained from any harsh criticism of the kingdom, even as their father’s death provoked global outrage and widespread condemnation of the heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The delivery of homes and monthly payments of $10,000 or more to each sibling were approved late last year by King Salman as part of what one former official described as an acknowledgment that “a big injustice has been done” and an attempt “to make a wrong right.”
But the royal family is also relying on its wealth to help contain the ongoing fallout from the killing and dismemberment of the prominent Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributing columnist who was targeted for articles that were often critical of the government.
A Saudi official described the payments as consistent with the country’s long-standing practice of providing financial support to victims of violent crime or even natural disasters and rejected the suggestion that the Khashoggi family would be obligated to remain silent. “Such support is part of our custom and culture,” the official said. “It is not attached to anything else.”
Despite the kingdom’s generosity, the siblings reportedly don’t see eye to eye on the payments. Khashoggi’s two daughters are said to support the family taking a more aggressive stance against the House of Saud and MbS, while Salah Khashoggi, Khashoggi’s eldest son, is been the most amenable to compromise. He’s the only one of the four siblings who still resides in Saudi Arabia with his family, living in a multi-million dollar compound in Jiddah.
Salah appeared in an infamous photograph shaking MbS’s hand last year. But while the Kingdom had hoped the photo would convey the ruling family’s contrition over the murder, critics derided it as an example of coercion. Salah, who works as a banker in Jiddah, hasn’t spoken out one way or the other.
And since he intends to remain in the kingdom with his family, he and his siblings have every reason to stay quiet. After all, they are facing a very stark choice: Speak out and risk the life of their brother, while also losing the financial settlements, or stay quiet, take the money, and move on with their lives.
Meanwhile, in the clearest sign that the international financial services community, which famously boycotted MbS’s Saudi Future Investment Initiative forum – aka “Davos in the Desert” – late last year, has dropped its moralistic stance, Goldman CEO David Solomon is reportedly on his way to the kingdom to try and strengthen the bank’s business ties with its leaders. Solomon is the first Wall Street CEO to travel to the kingdom since the Khashoggi incident, but given revelations about Aramco’s profitability, and Goldman’s role in advising on Aramco’s plans to buy Sabic, the opportunity for banks to reap massive profits will likely prove too alluring to ignore.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2WH3g50 Tyler Durden