Refusal to comply with US info plea lands Saudi $700bln PIF subpoena
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The US Senate has subpoenaed the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia after it declined to cooperate voluntarily in providing information regarding its businesses in the United States.
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US Senior Senator Richard Blumenthal chairs the committee investigating Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund business in the United States, in Capitol Hill, September 14, 2023. (AP)
Saudi Arabia's $700 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF) has been subpoenaed by a US Senate committee after it declined to cooperate voluntarily in providing information regarding its businesses in the United States.
The subpoena, issued by the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, specifically targets the Public Investment Fund's fully-owned US subsidiaries in relation to the group's proposed major golf merger deal and various investments across the United States.
The announcement of the move came during a committee hearing led by its chairman, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. While the hearing was initially meant to focus on Saudi Arabia's contentious proposed golf merger, it evolved into a discussion of Saudi Arabia's record of human rights abuses, accusations of involvement in the 9/11 attacks, and concerns about the nation's attempts to acquire assets of national significance.
Senators expressed frustration at the PIF's refusal to comply with voluntary disclosure requests, viewing it as part of a troubling trend among Saudi officials to evade US legal oversight.
Senator Blumenthal stated, "The Saudi Public Investment Fund cannot have it both ways: if it wants to engage with the United States commercially, it must be subject to United States law and oversight."
Bipartisan attack on Saudi dealings
Expert witnesses characterized the PIF as deeply intertwined with the Saudi state and its Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, highlighting the lack of transparency and accountability in the fund's operations.
Blumenthal highlighted the PIF's ownership of a company that transported the killers of Jamal Khashoggi from Saudi Arabia to Turkey, where the journalist was murdered in 2018. He criticized Saudi Arabia's use of its funds to gain influence in the United States, describing the regime as brutal and resistant to criticism.
The hearing also brought to light the PIF's role in financing the development of Neom, a desert city central to MBS' Vision 2030 economic plan. Members of a tribe resisting the Neom project have faced severe penalties, including death sentences.
It remains uncertain whether the PIF will comply with the subpoena, as the fund has previously presented conflicting claims about its relationship with the Saudi government.
The US government has subjected the Saudi fund to rigorous legal and political scrutiny, leading the fund to seek protection through diplomatic protocols such as sovereign immunity.
The hearing also revealed a rare bipartisan agreement between Democrats and Republicans, with Senator Ron Johnson emphasizing remaining questions about Saudi Arabia's role in the 9/11 attacks and suggesting that the investigation may have broader implications beyond the initial PGA-related inquiry.
Read more: UN experts denounce planned Saudi executions linked to Neom project
