Saad Aljabri and his daughter Sarah in a handout photo.Courtesy of family
A former Saudi spy chief living in exile in Toronto is denying allegations he embezzled billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia and is urging a Canadian court to lift a freeze on his worldwide assets.
Saad Aljabri, who held a cabinet-rank intelligence post under deposed crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef (known as MBN), has been living in Canada since a 2017 palace coup in Riyadh left Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in charge in Saudi Arabia.
Last year, he sued the Crown Prince in a federal court in Washington, accusing him of sending a hit squad to Canada in 2018 to try to assassinate him and of holding two of his children hostage in Saudi Arabia.
In a civil suit filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in August, 10 subsidiaries of Tahakom Investments Co., owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, alleged he engaged in a massive fraud, totalling at least US$3.47-billion.
The Saudi lawsuit accuses Mr. Aljabri, who is also referred to as Dr. Saad, of funnelling money to his family and friends from the companies, which were “intended, ostensibly” to fund counterterrorism activities such as paying informants and buying security equipment.
The lawsuit alleges that Mr. Aljabri has hidden funds taken from the companies in locations from the British Virgin Islands to Malta to the United States and Canada: “He has funneled tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars into real estate, in the names of his children, various corporations and co-conspirators, including luxury properties in Canada, the United States and elsewhere.”
On Jan. 22, the Ontario court ordered Mr. Aljabri’s assets around the world to be frozen.
In a court filing on Jan. 28, Mr. Aljabri’s lawyers said the civil suit is a “politically motivated attack” as part of the Crown Prince’s efforts to “target Dr. Saad because of his partnership with Western security officials, and the confidential information Dr. Saad holds about bin Salman.” They asked the court to lift the worldwide freeze of his assets.
On Monday, Justice Cory Gilmore said she would not set aside the freezing order until she saw more evidence, and said the plaintiffs had presented “overwhelming evidence of fraud” to the court. The case resumes on Feb. 19.
The former head of the CIA’s Middle East division told The Globe and Mail on Tuesday the Saudi lawsuit should be treated with “great skepticism.”
“I ran the CIA’s Middle East division. I know all these people,” Daniel Hoffman said. “Those who know Dr. Saad can’t imagine that any of the allegations against Dr. Saad are true.”
Mr. Hoffman said Mr. Aljabri’s counterterrorism activities were of immense help to the United States, but declined to discuss how the Saudi companies operated.
“This is classified information,” he said. “At the end of the day, that was MBN’s work, and Dr. Saad was the guy who worked for him. It is the way they conducted their official business. That is the most I can say.”
Mr. Aljabri, in court filings responding to the suit, said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is behind the legal action. He also says the allegations are the same ones the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) rejected when the Saudis sought a worldwide wanted persons notice for him, saying they were politically motivated.
He said the companies the plaintiffs are citing, through which hundreds of millions of dollars flowed, were used to fund clandestine counterterrorism operations – many of which were pursued in close partnership with Western governments – and this financing was “opaque by design.”
Mr. Aljabri’s filing said: “All payments were expressly approved by senior members of the Saudi Royal Family.”
He said conduct such as obtaining Maltese citizenship that the plaintiffs say demonstrates fraudulent intent was “a means of evading political enemies” who want him dead and “have unlawfully detained his children in an attempt to pressure him to return to Saudi Arabia.”
Mr. Aljabri has deep knowledge of some of Saudi Arabia’s most sensitive information, including the foreign bank accounts and financial assets of senior Saudi Royal family members. The Crown Prince wants him dead because of this knowledge, he alleges.
Mr. Aljabri’s legal filings said he fled for his life after the palace coup, and refused the Crown Prince’s request that he return. In September, 2017, Mr. Aljabri said in the documents, the Crown Prince sent a text message that stated in part “Don’t force me to escalate things and take legal measures, as well as other measures that would be harmful to you.”
The documents noted the RCMP are investigating a thwarted plot to kill him in Toronto with the same Tiger Team hit squad that assassinated Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. His life remains in danger, the filings say.
“In July, 2020, the RCMP stationed armed guards outside Dr. Saad’s home after learning of a credible and imminent threat to his life. In late 2020, Canadian authorities reported to Dr. Saad that the level of threats on his life remained ‘high’ and recommended 24-hour physical security. As a result, Dr. Saad has hired a 24-hour security detail,” the filing said.
Two of his children, Omar and Sarah Aljabri, 22 and 20, were arrested and imprisoned last March.
The court documents quote U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy, Tim Kaine, Marco Rubio and Chris Van Hollen calling Mr. Aljabri “a highly valued partner of our intelligence agencies and the Department of State during the past two decades.”
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Robert Fife
Steven Chase