Saudi Arabia Wants Its Fugitive Spymaster Back: WSJ

Jabri was America’s closest antiterrorism contact within the Arab world for greater than 15 years, starting after the 9/11 assaults. The Saudi spymaster had informants, access to billions of government dollars, close relationships with key members of the royal family and an ability to get things done that Americans found rare among their connections in the Middle East, the report said.

Now Jabri is a global fugitive. He’s on the run from Saudi Arabia, the place officers allege {that a} group of males he led whereas working for the Inside Ministry misspent $11 billion in authorities cash, paying themselves at the least $1 billion.

The Saudi authorities issued extradition requests and Interpol notices. Jabri believes Saudi authorities dispatched an outdated pal of his to lure him again. In March, they jailed two of his younger grownup youngsters.

The bitter combat between the Saudi authorities and Jabri opens the books on the nation’s system of patronage, enterprise offers and alleged self-enrichment, all accomplished within the identify of combating terrorism.

Present and former US and European intelligence officers stated the investigation dangers revealing delicate secrets and techniques of US-Saudi operations towards Islamic extremists. They stated one or either side within the feud may leak such secrets and techniques to bolster their case.

“We don’t essentially need counterterrorism operations uncovered,” WSJ quoted a US official as saying.

By verifying particulars of the Saudi investigation and increasing on the findings by way of US and European intelligence officers, The WSJ has pieced collectively a multibillion-dollar community that enriched high-ranking Saudi authorities officers whereas exerting the dominion’s affect overseas.

Cash was used for quite a lot of functions together with paying informants and overseas leaders like Sudan’s ex-dictator Omar al-Bashir and shopping for policing tools and safe telephones.

Investigators allege the community profited by overcharging the federal government for contracts with main Western firms resembling International Business Machines Corp. and Oracle Corp. It used offshore accounts linked to huge Western banks to maneuver cash, in accordance with individuals accustomed to the investigators’ work.