The UK law firm Clifford Chance reportedly played a key role in Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's purge during which he detained nearly 400 powerful individuals in a luxury hotel and seized their wealth, The Observer reported. Acting on bin Salman’s orders, the firm facilitated the transfer of assets from a Saudi TV station to the government, according to the British newspaper. In total, $100 billion in assets were seized from the detainees, some of whom faced mistreatment, including beatings and sleep deprivation.

Seven years on from the infamous incident at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, Clifford Chance – whose global revenues rose 9% to £2.3bn in the last financial year – has expanded in Saudi Arabia to become an “unrivaled legal powerhouse," according to its website.

The firm has major government clients, including key ministries and the sovereign public investment fund. In 2023, following a legal change, its Saudi branch, AS&H Clifford Chance—a joint venture with a local firm—became one of the first foreign firms authorized to practice law in the country. Just last month, it was named "Saudi law firm of the year at a prestigious awards ceremony in Dubai.

The firm’s longstanding ties to the Saudi regime are now under scrutiny after it was tasked with creating an “independent” assessment of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record for the country's bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup—a report widely criticized as a “whitewash".

Whitewashing crimes

Required for FIFA's bidding process, the assessment was intended to provide an independent and unbiased overview of the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. According to the UN guiding principles that FIFA claims to follow, such assessments should reference all internationally recognized human rights.

However, documents obtained by The Observer reveal that AS&H Clifford Chance agreed to significantly narrow the report's scope following a request from the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF), which FIFA approved. As a result, the report focused solely on human rights recognized within Saudi Arabia, rather than those acknowledged globally, as determined by the Saudi Football Federation.

The Observer revealed that the 39-page report makes no mention of human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, including restrictions on freedom of expression, the ban on trade unions, or forced evictions related to the construction of the mega-city Neom. AS&H Clifford Chance stated that the report's scope was set by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) in consultation with FIFA. The methodology notes indicate that the review took just six weeks and relied solely on interviews with government ministries, without consulting human rights groups or individuals affected by alleged abuses, such as migrant workers.

'Fatally flawed' report

Last week, a coalition of 11 human rights organizations criticized the report as “fatally flawed', arguing that it significantly downplayed the “severe risk” of hosting the World Cup in Saudi Arabia. Julia Legner, executive director of ALQST for Human Rights, described it as offering an “artificially limited, misleading, and overly positive perspective,” while James Lynch of FairSquare labeled it a “whitewash".

Lynch called it “unthinkably bad” and “genuinely bizarre” that Clifford Chance, known for its human rights practice in the UK, would ignore international standards to accept parameters set by the Saudi football federation. He also described the firm’s failure to consult external stakeholders as “completely wild.”

The firm is accused of cherry-picking comments from UN bodies and leaving out important findings, such as those about women and girls facing charges for reporting sexual assault. The report also fails to include any input from UN special rapporteurs and does not mention the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi or the Ritz-Carlton purge.

Steve Cockburn from Amnesty International said, “It’s incredible that AS&H Clifford Chance left out such obvious risks and scandalous that FIFA let them do it.” The controversy over the report, published by FIFA in July but mostly ignored, has caused turmoil at Clifford Chance’s Canary Wharf office.

The fallout also raises broader concerns for FIFA about the integrity of Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid as the vote to confirm the kingdom as the 2034 host approaches.

The bid has been controversial since the beginning, as the FIFA council, led by President Gianni Infantino, took steps seen as favoring Saudi Arabia. This included deciding to host the 2030 tournament across three continents, which limited the 2034 hosting options to Asia or Oceania. Additionally, countries were given only 25 days to express their interest.

After Saudi Arabia became the sole bidder, the Norwegian Football Federation criticized the process as “not transparent enough,” while FIFA maintained it was fair.

Saudi Arabia's designation as the host nation is expected to be confirmed at a FIFA congress meeting on December 11 in Zurich, where the organization's 211 members will vote.