0:00:02 > 0:00:05Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
0:00:06 > 0:00:08November 2017.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11Planes grounded, borders closed.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15They've seized as many as 500 of the rich people in Saudi Arabia
0:00:15 > 0:00:18in the middle of the night, 11 of them princes.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20A five-star hotel turned into a prison
0:00:20 > 0:00:23in a massive crackdown on corruption.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28This was dramatic, it was almost like a theatrical performance
0:00:28 > 0:00:32because the humiliation was really absolute.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38A crackdown at this level is unprecedented in Saudi Arabia.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41These are the household names that become the stuff of legend
0:00:41 > 0:00:42and the stuff of myth.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45The Kingdom is getting very serious about anti-corruption,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48that it's starting with some of the wealthiest individuals
0:00:48 > 0:00:49in the Kingdom.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55It opened the door on the secret world of huge kickbacks and bribes,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58involving companies and governments around the world.
0:01:01 > 0:01:06Saudi Arabia is probably the most corrupt country on the planet.
0:01:06 > 0:01:11And that corruption goes to the very top of the Saudi royal family.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16A new Saudi leader has led the crackdown,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20at the same time as seizing control of the country's security forces.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23THEY CHANT
0:01:23 > 0:01:26It was a raw demonstration of a level of power
0:01:26 > 0:01:28that none of his predecessors had.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Can he finally end the corruption?
0:01:33 > 0:01:35This is the story of how powerful Saudi princes
0:01:35 > 0:01:37have lined their pockets for decades.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41And how the crackdown has left the family in turmoil.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48Princes who believed in the past that they were above the law
0:01:48 > 0:01:50now have to fear that they could be next.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55The House of Saud is now in a state of fear and terror.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11THEY CHANT
0:02:16 > 0:02:19THEY CHANT
0:02:20 > 0:02:22The Malaysian people are angry.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25THEY CHANT
0:02:25 > 0:02:27They believe they have been robbed.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31THEY CHANT
0:02:31 > 0:02:33You're not talking about 1 million or 2 million,
0:02:33 > 0:02:35we're talking about billions of dollars.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39And yet, the Malaysian government acted as if nothing happened.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42Absolutely nothing happened.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44THEY CHANT
0:02:48 > 0:02:49The money has gone missing
0:02:49 > 0:02:51from a company called 1MDB.
0:02:53 > 0:02:571MDB is what's known as a sovereign wealth fund,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00an investment fund intended to benefit the people of Malaysia.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05The foundations are being laid for today's aspirations
0:03:05 > 0:03:08to become tomorrow's reality.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Tony Pua is an opposition MP.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22He's spent the last eight years trying to find out
0:03:22 > 0:03:25what happened to the money invested in 1MDB.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30I thought it was really strange for the government
0:03:30 > 0:03:34to set up a company and borrow
0:03:34 > 0:03:371.2 billion.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43And invest it, practically 90% of the funds,
0:03:43 > 0:03:45in a single company
0:03:45 > 0:03:50out of Saudi Arabia, that no-one has really heard of.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54That company was called PetroSaudi.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Its co-founder was the seventh son of a Saudi king,
0:03:59 > 0:04:01Prince Turki bin Abdullah.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05And if you do a bit of digging,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09you realise the company was set up barely three or four years ago
0:04:09 > 0:04:14and is run by a guy who is no older than 32 years old.
0:04:14 > 0:04:15It's like, what?
0:04:20 > 0:04:23And that's when you start asking questions
0:04:23 > 0:04:26and start digging to see if there's anything strange going on.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30If it's even a real deal in the first place.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42The story of 1MDB's first deal
0:04:42 > 0:04:45begins in the Mediterranean.
0:04:51 > 0:04:57The very start of the whole 1MDB adventure with PetroSaudi
0:04:57 > 0:05:00took place on a grand yacht off Monaco.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04The Tatoosh,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07which had been hired by Prince Turki for the occasion.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12On board the Prince's hired yacht was a very special guest -
0:05:12 > 0:05:16the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Prince Turki was there from the start.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23And he entertained Najib and his wife Rosmah
0:05:23 > 0:05:25and some of their children on board this yacht
0:05:25 > 0:05:27at the time that the deal was made.
0:05:29 > 0:05:351MDB had invested 1 billion in a young Saudi prince's company.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39But within days, 700 million had allegedly gone missing.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44PetroSaudi insist they have done nothing wrong, and say that
0:05:44 > 0:05:47leaked e-mails attributed to them have been tampered with.
0:05:48 > 0:05:541MDB would go on to invest many more billions in other joint ventures.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Most of this cash would also disappear.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00It was a con from its conception.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Najib is not only the Prime Minister,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06but the Finance Minister, and he was also the sole signatory
0:06:06 > 0:06:08and shareholder of this 1MDB fund,
0:06:08 > 0:06:12so it was totally opaque and he had total control
0:06:12 > 0:06:15over how the money was raised and how it was spent.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17And I had quite a lot of fun
0:06:17 > 0:06:20actually unravelling the mystery of how it was spent.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29The Malaysian people were left with nothing.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Except huge debts.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38You were promised a tasty bowl of noodles.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Full of meat, vegetables, dumplings,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45and the people will get to enjoy the feast.
0:06:45 > 0:06:46I was suspicious.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50We know they're going to siphon off the meat, and give it to themselves.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54But what actually took place, what really took place,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57not only they took the meat, they took the dumplings,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00they took the whole bowl of noodles!
0:07:00 > 0:07:02And the only thing they left for us
0:07:02 > 0:07:04is for us to taste the spicy chilli.
0:07:04 > 0:07:05It hurts!
0:07:10 > 0:07:13But the Malaysian Prime Minister fared slightly better,
0:07:13 > 0:07:15according to leaked e-mails.
0:07:18 > 0:07:24What they told me was that 681 million
0:07:24 > 0:07:28had been transferred into the Prime Minister's personal account
0:07:28 > 0:07:31in March 2013,
0:07:31 > 0:07:36as part of the 1MDB supposed joint ventures of that time.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40Nobody believed it when it first happened.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Why would the Prime Minister be so stupid
0:07:44 > 0:07:48as to transfer that big an amount of money
0:07:48 > 0:07:50into his personal bank account?
0:07:50 > 0:07:53When I met people on the streets, they were asking me,
0:07:53 > 0:07:54"No, that's false news."
0:07:54 > 0:07:56But later on, we discover it was true.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10The scandal now hit the US.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17The FBI called 1MDB the biggest kleptocracy case in history.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22They started seizing assets -
0:08:22 > 0:08:25a painting by Monet,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27a 33 million jet.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Properties in Beverly Hills.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37All, they claimed, bought with money stolen from the Malaysian people.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42The cash had even been invested in a Hollywood movie.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46A film that just happened to be about rampant corruption and fraud.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Come on! Let's go!
0:08:49 > 0:08:53One, two, three!
0:08:56 > 0:08:59The FBI says it is still investigating.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03The Prime Minister insists he has done nothing wrong.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06The 681 million in his account
0:09:06 > 0:09:09was a gift from a different Saudi prince,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11most of which he had already returned.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15And what of the Saudi prince
0:09:15 > 0:09:19who signed the first ever deal with 1MDB?
0:09:19 > 0:09:22While there is no evidence that he personally took part
0:09:22 > 0:09:25in the alleged scheme to defraud 1MDB,
0:09:25 > 0:09:29leaked company e-mails do suggest he made a lot of money on the deal.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34All Turki bin Abdullah knew was that he was getting
0:09:34 > 0:09:37a vast commission for what was involved here.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41After the initial payment into PetroSaudi,
0:09:41 > 0:09:4577 million was transferred to Prince Turki.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02The House of Saud ultimately controls one fifth
0:10:02 > 0:10:04of all the world's known oil reserves.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12You might think this would provide them with enough money.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20But for many princes, it would seem there is no such thing as enough.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26The royal family obviously has profited mightily
0:10:26 > 0:10:28from ruling the country.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32Many of the senior members in particular are absurdly wealthy.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36With access to the Kingdom highly restricted for foreigners,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39the only Westerners to get a close-up view
0:10:39 > 0:10:42of how the country is run are the diplomats we send there.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46The great wealth of the senior members of the family
0:10:46 > 0:10:49have come from commissions and, in effect,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51rake-offs from public business.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55For the most part, people accept the system.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Some complain about corruption.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00But they turn out to be the people who aren't getting their cut of it.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03In my opinion,
0:11:03 > 0:11:07as a long-time corruption investigator and researcher,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11I have never come across a transaction with Saudi Arabia
0:11:11 > 0:11:15that doesn't involve the massive payment of bribes.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18MUSIC: What Do You Want? by Adam Faith
0:11:18 > 0:11:22# What do you want if you don't want money?
0:11:22 > 0:11:25# What do you want if you don't want gold?
0:11:25 > 0:11:28# Say what you want and I'll give it to you, darling
0:11:28 > 0:11:31# Wish you wanted my love, baby
0:11:31 > 0:11:33# Well, I'm offering you... #
0:11:33 > 0:11:36One country more than most has been a massive source of bribes
0:11:36 > 0:11:38for the House of Saud.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42It's a story that goes back more than 50 years.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48Whitehall, the half mile of government buildings
0:11:48 > 0:11:51stretching from Westminster up to Trafalgar Square,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53which mark the heart of the civil service.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00By the 1960s, Saudi oil wealth was growing,
0:12:00 > 0:12:05and British civil servants saw an opportunity for UK plc.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10They began to broker deals with the Kingdom worth millions.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Foreign Office memos reveal that officials were conflicted
0:12:15 > 0:12:17about the payment of bribes.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26The longer this affair goes on, the less I like it.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29Some governments are prepared to get involved in shady dealings.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Her Majesty's Government, I assume, quite rightly not.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37While we understand your feelings,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40we do not think we can primly stand aside altogether.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43If bribing a certain person will probably lead
0:12:43 > 0:12:47to the winning of a contract, we cannot very well sit tight.
0:12:50 > 0:12:57For 50 years, it has been the normal practice for commissions
0:12:57 > 0:13:00to be paid to very senior princes or officials
0:13:00 > 0:13:03within the Saudi royal family to secure arms deals,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05and I don't think there's any doubt.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08The documents in question implicated very senior people
0:13:08 > 0:13:09in the Saudi government,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11like the former king, for example, Abdullah.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19Abdullah was one of the most powerful princes in Saudi Arabia.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24In the 1960s, he was appointed head of the Saudi Arabian National Guard.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31This National Guard is made up of Bedouins
0:13:31 > 0:13:33traditionally loyal to the king,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37an army 30,000 strong, as large as the regular army.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42Abdullah wanted to modernise his army
0:13:42 > 0:13:45and he wanted Britain to supply the weapons.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49What he didn't want was to discuss bribes face-to-face.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57Beirut is a crossroads where literally East meets West.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05The deal first began, strangely, in Beirut.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09A person approached the British Embassy in Beirut
0:14:09 > 0:14:12and told them that, if they used his services
0:14:12 > 0:14:16and paid him commission, he would be able to get Britain
0:14:16 > 0:14:19arms deals with the Saudi Arabian National Guard.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24The man was Mahmoud Fustok.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26He was married to Prince Abdullah's sister,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28which made him the perfect middleman.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35Britain agreed to hand Fustok 7.5% of the contract.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Today, that would be worth a cool £170 million.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Eventually the problem they faced
0:14:47 > 0:14:52was that Abdullah wasn't able to get the deal approved
0:14:52 > 0:14:55by the Saudi Council of Ministers.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58So it was a very squalid episode,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01with the British government heavily involved.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06This deal failed, but a few years later Prince Abdullah signed
0:15:06 > 0:15:09an even bigger deal with the UK,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13to supply communications equipment to the Saudi National Guard.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18This would pay Abdullah close to half a billion pounds in bribes.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26One British government after another
0:15:26 > 0:15:29would keep the embarrassing details secret...
0:15:32 > 0:15:34..for more than 40 years.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40In 2005, Prince Abdullah was crowned King of Saudi Arabia
0:15:40 > 0:15:44and his secret British arms contract was still in place.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Five years later, a former soldier
0:15:56 > 0:16:01was just settling into his new job as programme director in Riyadh.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Ian Foxley had been hired by
0:16:04 > 0:16:08military contractor GPT Special Project Management.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12He was now in charge of the latest plan
0:16:12 > 0:16:16to modernise communications for the Saudi Arabian National Guard.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20It was bigger than the British Army, and better equipped.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24This contract was to modernise
0:16:24 > 0:16:27communications for that force,
0:16:27 > 0:16:32so effectively you had a signed-off, funded project
0:16:32 > 0:16:37of £1.96 billion
0:16:37 > 0:16:39over a ten-year period
0:16:39 > 0:16:43to re-equip the army.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46Wonderful. You know, as a project manager, as a programme director,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48that's a fantastic opportunity.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52It was going to be the pinnacle
0:16:52 > 0:16:58of my professional communications career.
0:16:58 > 0:16:59But I found out very quickly
0:16:59 > 0:17:03that I was the third programme director in six months...
0:17:04 > 0:17:06..and that's highly unusual.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12So you had this escalating worry in your mind
0:17:12 > 0:17:15about things that aren't quite right.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Within weeks, the first alarm bell went off.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24And this is like a murder story
0:17:24 > 0:17:27where you don't find the body at first.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33When Ian Foxley was asked to sign off a company invoice,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37he noticed something odd on the paperwork,
0:17:37 > 0:17:39something called "bought-in services".
0:17:42 > 0:17:43And I said, "What's that?"
0:17:44 > 0:17:46And they said, "Oh...
0:17:46 > 0:17:50"this is for funding stuff that we don't have in country."
0:17:52 > 0:17:58This bought-in services on this first contract is £1.5 million.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04And that's when I go, "So what is it and who are we buying it from?"
0:18:08 > 0:18:11And that's when it all started getting difficult.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14That's when you're asking questions they don't want asked.
0:18:18 > 0:18:23This was a UK Ministry of Defence supervised contract.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Ian Foxley wanted to tell them his concerns.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31He went to the MOD office in Riyadh,
0:18:31 > 0:18:35where he met a Brigadier, by chance an old Army colleague.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39He told Foxley to get him proof of illegality.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47That proof was back at GPT, on Foxley's employers' e-mail system.
0:18:49 > 0:18:50LIFT BEEPS
0:18:53 > 0:18:55I got into the office early.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59I rang the IT manager and I said, "I've got a problem.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02"I need you to let me into this account,"
0:19:02 > 0:19:06and I sit at this console next to this window,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09knowing that if anybody walks past...
0:19:09 > 0:19:13..tensions are such at the higher level in this company that they're
0:19:13 > 0:19:16going to know immediately what I'm doing at that time in the morning.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20It felt like being in a Hollywood movie
0:19:20 > 0:19:24but with the added tension that this time it's for real.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for
0:19:26 > 0:19:30but I know I'm looking for something that's an attachment.
0:19:30 > 0:19:31So I just took the lot.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39This is one of the key documents
0:19:39 > 0:19:44and if I just show you here, the contract is worth
0:19:44 > 0:19:4977.7 million Saudi riyals.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51So this is about £12 million...
0:19:52 > 0:19:59..of which the element, the suspect element for bought-in services
0:19:59 > 0:20:02is 9.5 million riyals.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05That's £1.5 million.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Ian Foxley then sent the MOD these documents relating
0:20:13 > 0:20:15to the so-called bought-in services.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22The Brigadier, having got the evidence, wanted to ring London,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26wanted to ring back to UK and find out what he should do with it,
0:20:26 > 0:20:29and they told him to hand it back to the company.
0:20:32 > 0:20:33And I couldn't believe this.
0:20:35 > 0:20:36If I turn round and say,
0:20:36 > 0:20:41"I've discovered corruption in one of your major contracts,"
0:20:41 > 0:20:46and I hand you the evidence and you hand it back to the company,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48you're betraying me.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52You have just hung me out to dry.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58GPT then threatened Foxley with arrest
0:20:58 > 0:21:00for stealing company information.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07With his wife and family still in the UK,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10he knew he had to get out of Riyadh.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13I was on my way to the airport and my wife rang.
0:21:13 > 0:21:14PHONE RINGS
0:21:15 > 0:21:19I'd been told already that my phones were monitored.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22I couldn't say that I was actually desperately trying
0:21:22 > 0:21:23to get out of the country.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27We had a nice, gentle conversation about,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30you know, "I'll see you in a couple of weeks' time,"
0:21:30 > 0:21:32and actually I'm en route to the airport.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36It's like combat.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Your brain is going at a million miles an hour.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41You take a gulp and go forward.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55I waited till we cleared Riyadh airspace and had a big drink.
0:21:55 > 0:22:01You know, "Stewardess, bring me the biggest whisky you can let me have!"
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Back in the UK, Ian Foxley was approached for his evidence
0:22:10 > 0:22:13by Richard Brooks, a journalist from Private Eye.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Some of the material that Ian Foxley got hold of really was explosive.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24So it kind of showed that, centrally,
0:22:24 > 0:22:29within this massive multinational defence company,
0:22:29 > 0:22:34business took priority over integrity or honesty, basically.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39The public position here and in Saudi Arabia -
0:22:39 > 0:22:42everybody pretends there are no bribes,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46so they have to go under all these weird and wonderful euphemisms
0:22:46 > 0:22:50of things like bought-in services, commissions and so on.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54Bought-in services weren't services at all. They were bribes.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56There were no services being provided.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59They were simply kickbacks to important officials.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04This man was crucial for making the system of bribes work.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07Peter Austin, a British businessman.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17He's the owner of this place, Little Whale Cay,
0:23:17 > 0:23:19a private island in the Caribbean.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25If you'd like to stay here, you can rent it for around £13,000 a night.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30For years, Peter Austin was the man who distributed
0:23:30 > 0:23:32the money for the Saudis.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36Every contract would have what was then known
0:23:36 > 0:23:38as an administrative charge attached to it.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40Peter Austin would turn up
0:23:40 > 0:23:42every now and then to check everything was fine,
0:23:42 > 0:23:46he would get the administrative charge and then pass it around.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52The money was handed out to members of King Abdullah's inner circle.
0:23:54 > 0:23:55Over the lifetime of the contract,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59the bribes paid amounted to around half a billion pounds.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07Come on, you two.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Ian Foxley had uncovered a scandal going back decades.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15The Serious Fraud Office launched an enquiry
0:24:15 > 0:24:18into his allegations in 2012.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22Neither GPT nor the Ministry of Defence
0:24:22 > 0:24:25will comment until that enquiry is concluded.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29To date, no-one has been charged.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33You don't plot on being a whistle-blower,
0:24:33 > 0:24:34it's not a career path.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38You fall into it through doing the right thing.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43And the effect of that is that you end up in a very lonely place.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47You end up isolated professionally and physically...
0:24:47 > 0:24:50..and certainly spiritually and mentally.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53And that's a very difficult place.
0:24:58 > 0:24:59Come on. Come on, you two.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14Saudi Arabia hasn't always had a reputation for corruption.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16The first King of Saudi Arabia
0:25:16 > 0:25:18had a reputation for giving away his riches.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22In the early days of the Kingdom,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25Abdulaziz, the founder of this particular dynasty,
0:25:25 > 0:25:31was famous for driving around in an open car with a bag of gold coins
0:25:31 > 0:25:33and if he saw someone looking destitute,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36he'd get out of the car and give them a gold coin,
0:25:36 > 0:25:38making them instantly rich.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40SHOUTING THROUGH LOUDSPEAKER
0:25:41 > 0:25:44These are the new inheritors of the earth.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48This country has unlocked an Ali Baba Cave of riches.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55By the 1960s, Faisal was on the throne.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01He continued the traditions of his father and was widely regarded
0:26:01 > 0:26:05as an honest king, who did his best to clamp down on corruption.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Faisal's power is absolute.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11It's as if the Queen were to rule us without Parliament.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14But things were changing.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18The Saudi Treasury was filling up with petrodollars.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Within three years, Saudi Arabia will have more foreign currency
0:26:24 > 0:26:27than Japan, Germany and the United States put together.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34There was now more money than the King could control on his own.
0:26:36 > 0:26:37He inherited a country that
0:26:37 > 0:26:41I think would be safe to say was in the eighth or ninth century,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43and he had to move it forward quickly.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48So he created a Ministry of Defence and Aviation,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51a Ministry of the Interior, a Foreign Ministry.
0:26:51 > 0:26:57Each one of those ministries got as its head one of his brothers
0:26:57 > 0:27:02and in many cases they stayed in that position for the next 50 years
0:27:02 > 0:27:05and those became their power centres,
0:27:05 > 0:27:07and each got bigger and bigger.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14Power was now spread across a number of senior princes.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17As it did, opportunities for corruption grew
0:27:17 > 0:27:21and there was little that even King Faisal could do to control it.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26At the Ministry of Defence, Prince Sultan had probably
0:27:26 > 0:27:28the worst reputation of any Saudi royal.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32As one diplomatic cable put it,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35"He has a corrupt interest in all contracts."
0:27:36 > 0:27:40We had lots of dealings with Crown Prince Sultan.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44He was fabulously wealthy, no doubt about it,
0:27:44 > 0:27:46and that was one of those areas
0:27:46 > 0:27:48where the funds of the Ministry of Defence
0:27:48 > 0:27:52and the funds available to Crown Prince Sultan
0:27:52 > 0:27:56often merged, and difficult to distinguish.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02Over the years, the rake-offs and the bribes took off...
0:28:04 > 0:28:07..increasing first from 7% to 10%
0:28:07 > 0:28:10and then to around 15% on each contract.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18Senior British civil servants had concluded that the bribes...
0:28:18 > 0:28:23..will, unless some restraint is applied, become enormous.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33But with thousands of jobs at stake in the British arms industry,
0:28:33 > 0:28:35there wasn't much sign of restraint.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41In 1985, the UK and Saudi governments signed Britain's
0:28:41 > 0:28:43biggest ever arms contract.
0:28:46 > 0:28:47And the deal would set
0:28:47 > 0:28:50an astonishing new precedent for backhanders.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52It was called Al-Yamamah.
0:28:56 > 0:28:57Today's signing at Lancaster House
0:28:57 > 0:29:00was the triumphant climax to a year of patient bargaining.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04The Al-Yamamah deal was this extraordinary deal
0:29:04 > 0:29:08in which the United Kingdom sold Saudi Arabia
0:29:08 > 0:29:12what ultimately amounted to £43 billion of weaponry.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17And it was all sorts of stuff, but predominantly jet fighters,
0:29:17 > 0:29:19the maintenance and servicing of those jet fighters,
0:29:19 > 0:29:23the training of pilots, the training of maintenance staff, etc, etc.
0:29:25 > 0:29:30The UK would get tens of billions of pounds in valuable exports,
0:29:30 > 0:29:31and as part of the deal,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34we would promise to keep the Saudi rake-off secret.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47In the 1970s, Peter Gardiner ran an upmarket travel business.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56I dealt with quite a few VIPs and famous people.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58And, you know, very wealthy.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00LAUGHTER
0:30:00 > 0:30:02But it was not on the same lines...
0:30:02 > 0:30:04..or to the same extent as the Saudis have
0:30:04 > 0:30:06with their diplomatic status...
0:30:08 > 0:30:09..and their private jets.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14The Saudis had started to arrive in London,
0:30:14 > 0:30:17the playground for the international jet set.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20# T'ain't no big thing
0:30:20 > 0:30:23# To wait for the bell to ring... #
0:30:23 > 0:30:27Can you see? It's on... It's the very end one there.
0:30:27 > 0:30:2880 Sussex Square.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32That was the home of Prince Turki bin Nasser and his family.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36One Saudi royal would become Peter Gardiner's best client.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41Prince Turki bin Nasser enjoyed the life of a Saudi expat
0:30:41 > 0:30:43in 1970s London.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47And when a special trip abroad needed arranging,
0:30:47 > 0:30:49he summoned Peter Gardiner.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52Money wasn't a problem.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55# Love is the drug I'm thinking of
0:30:55 > 0:30:57# O-oh
0:30:57 > 0:30:59# Can't you see?
0:30:59 > 0:31:02# Love is the drug for me. #
0:31:02 > 0:31:03Brought out a briefcase.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06To my amazement, it was just stacked with hundred-dollar bills,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09brand-new, wrapped up, and he said,
0:31:09 > 0:31:13"This is 20,000, which will do as a deposit."
0:31:13 > 0:31:16Prince Turki had always been rich,
0:31:16 > 0:31:18but in the mid-1980s,
0:31:18 > 0:31:21even his lavish spending suddenly went through the roof.
0:31:24 > 0:31:31Then it became the private charters, 70 people going to a luxury hotel,
0:31:31 > 0:31:32cash being transferred,
0:31:32 > 0:31:35all sorts of very, very expensive transactions,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38and before too long, the invoicing
0:31:38 > 0:31:40could reach as high as £2 million in a month.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54Peter Gardiner was now flying all over the world
0:31:54 > 0:31:56for Prince Turki, jetting
0:31:56 > 0:32:00back and forth to the Prince's sprawling Los Angeles estate.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08On one occasion, he even chartered an entire 747
0:32:08 > 0:32:11just to bring home the Princess's shopping.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16So where did the extra money to pay for all this luxury come from?
0:32:20 > 0:32:21Prince Turki just happened to be
0:32:21 > 0:32:24a major general in the Saudi Air Force.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31He was getting huge rake-offs from the Al-Yamamah deal.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34The company that would build and sell the jets
0:32:34 > 0:32:39on behalf of the UK government was arms manufacturer BAE.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44They were paying for Prince Turki's lavish holidays.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50In 1989, Prince Turki asked me to meet
0:32:50 > 0:32:54and speak to a general from BAE.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57I had no idea what it was about, but, as requested, I met him.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Told me quite clearly this was all now part
0:33:01 > 0:33:06of a government-to-government arrangement, highly confidential,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09that I was never to talk about it or discuss it with anybody.
0:33:10 > 0:33:16In 2002, when a new bribery law came in, that changed.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20Peter Gardiner went public and told the Guardian newspaper everything.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25The Serious Fraud Office launched an enquiry.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29Investigators began to uncover the scale of what had been going on.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Piece of the story that Peter Gardiner had to tell was,
0:33:34 > 0:33:38at the end of the day, only one small piece of a much larger
0:33:38 > 0:33:39and...
0:33:41 > 0:33:45..more significant corruption case.
0:33:45 > 0:33:51The real grand corruption involved in the Al-Yamamah contract
0:33:51 > 0:33:53didn't involve, you know, millions of pounds -
0:33:53 > 0:33:56it involved hundreds of millions of pounds.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59To acquire the deal...
0:34:01 > 0:34:04..Britain effectively paid
0:34:04 > 0:34:09what this country described as commissions of £6 billion,
0:34:09 > 0:34:12and this was to various intermediaries or agents
0:34:12 > 0:34:16who then unpaid the vast majority of that amount
0:34:16 > 0:34:19to various members of the Saudi royal family
0:34:19 > 0:34:21and various other officials of the Saudi government.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28This was the most corrupt transaction in commercial history.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33Sir William Patey became
0:34:33 > 0:34:37Britain's ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 2007.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40By then, it was clear that the arms contract
0:34:40 > 0:34:44and system of payments were wide open to abuse.
0:34:46 > 0:34:51There were all sorts of contracts and deals, but, yeah.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53And there were lots of rules around the payments,
0:34:53 > 0:34:55but it was fatally flawed.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00The Saudis insisted on paying for the British weapons
0:35:00 > 0:35:04not in cash but in barrels of oil.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08However, the price of a barrel of oil isn't fixed, so when oil
0:35:08 > 0:35:13is sold to pay for the weapons, it could often generate surplus cash.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18The cash ended up in an account at the Bank of England.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24So, some days you would build up more money in the account than was
0:35:24 > 0:35:27needed for the contract, but it was
0:35:27 > 0:35:30kind of like a big oil slush fund, you know.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34In a proper accounting world, the surplus would have just been
0:35:34 > 0:35:37transferred back to the Ministry of Finance.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40But nothing about the Al-Yamamah project was simple.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49Over 20 years, billions of pounds flowed through the Bank of England.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57Some of that cash was transferred to accounts in the United States...
0:35:59 > 0:36:02..controlled by the son of the Defence Minister,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Prince Bandar bin Sultan.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10He's always maintained they weren't his personal accounts
0:36:10 > 0:36:13but were government accounts that he controlled.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20So Prince Bandar received over £1 billion into his accounts,
0:36:20 > 0:36:21into his bank accounts,
0:36:21 > 0:36:26via various offshore operations, obviously.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29But he also, additionally, received a gift
0:36:29 > 0:36:31of an Airbus jet.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38Private birthday present.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40A jet that was painted in the colours
0:36:40 > 0:36:43of his favourite American football team, the Dallas Cowboys.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47And until at least 2007,
0:36:47 > 0:36:51the British taxpayer actually contributed
0:36:51 > 0:36:53to the ongoing running and maintenance
0:36:53 > 0:36:55of this birthday present to Prince Bandar bin Sultan.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05We paid for Prince Bandar's aircraft to be serviced.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Now, there's a debate
0:37:07 > 0:37:09on whether Prince Bandar's aircraft
0:37:09 > 0:37:11was crewed and flown
0:37:11 > 0:37:13by the Saudi Air Force.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15So was this a payment to the Air Force,
0:37:15 > 0:37:17or was it a payment to Prince Bandar personally?
0:37:19 > 0:37:23He was using it when he was ambassador in the United States,
0:37:23 > 0:37:25so it was kind of an official function,
0:37:25 > 0:37:28but it was seen to benefit him personally,
0:37:28 > 0:37:32which is why it didn't meet the smell test.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36The scandal kept growing.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41The Serious Fraud Office discovered that many more millions
0:37:41 > 0:37:43had been spirited out of the Bank of England
0:37:43 > 0:37:46into secret numbered accounts offshore.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51There were a number that went out, I think, to Switzerland,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54and we wanted to follow those through,
0:37:54 > 0:37:56to see what accounts they had gone into,
0:37:56 > 0:37:58who those accounts benefited,
0:37:58 > 0:38:00who they were being paid over to.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04The investigators were now getting close
0:38:04 > 0:38:06to the Saudis at the heart of the scandal.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12That happened in 2006.
0:38:12 > 0:38:18And it was towards the end of the summer in 2006 that we
0:38:18 > 0:38:25found that the Saudi authorities did not want those enquiries to be made.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31I think it's important to say that in trying to investigate
0:38:31 > 0:38:34the Al-Yamamah deal, the Serious Fraud Office,
0:38:34 > 0:38:37the senior officials and investigators in the Serious Fraud Office,
0:38:37 > 0:38:40were put under the most extraordinary pressure.
0:38:42 > 0:38:47That pressure was coming from right across the UK government.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49By December 2006,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53the head of the Serious Fraud Office was being told that the Saudis
0:38:53 > 0:38:58were threatening to withdraw all cooperation on counterterrorism.
0:38:59 > 0:39:07Having seen all this, there was a risk to people's lives in the UK.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11Put shortly, if we didn't have their cooperation on terrorism
0:39:11 > 0:39:14matters, we would have a much bigger terrorism problem.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17I mean, I'm not aware of any threats having been made.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20I think the fear was that we'd have an awful lot of dirt,
0:39:20 > 0:39:24there wouldn't be any prosecutions, there wouldn't be any case to answer
0:39:24 > 0:39:28but the process of going through it would have so...
0:39:28 > 0:39:30..would have been so messy
0:39:30 > 0:39:34that UK/Saudi relations would have been in jeopardy.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37I think that was interpreted as the Saudis have threatened to withdraw
0:39:37 > 0:39:40counterterrorist cooperation - I don't think the Saudis ever had.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42INTERVIEWER: How would you describe
0:39:42 > 0:39:46the sort of approach that the Saudis were taking on this?
0:39:46 > 0:39:51Um, well, if somebody in the United Kingdom - in England, Wales -
0:39:51 > 0:39:57had made those sort of threats, one would obviously have to deal
0:39:57 > 0:40:01with it, and they could easily be regarded as criminal.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05MUSIC: God Save The Queen
0:40:05 > 0:40:08Eventually, Prime Minister Tony Blair got involved.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10He signed off on a letter,
0:40:10 > 0:40:12adding his personal support
0:40:12 > 0:40:17to the idea that the enquiry into BAE should be abandoned.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25It was a very difficult decision to make, for obvious reasons,
0:40:25 > 0:40:29but one had...we took, well, as much time as we could,
0:40:29 > 0:40:30given the circumstances.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33It was a fairly busy week, as you can imagine!
0:40:33 > 0:40:34At the end...
0:40:36 > 0:40:39At the end, you can't actually second-guess this.
0:40:39 > 0:40:40If you're being told,
0:40:40 > 0:40:43"This is British lives on British streets at risk..."
0:40:43 > 0:40:45Right, that was it.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50The enquiry in the UK was shut down.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55In America, prosecutors then tried to pick up
0:40:55 > 0:40:58where the Serious Fraud Office had left off.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03But Britain was determined to keep the House of Saud's secrets safe.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08The British government and BAE
0:41:08 > 0:41:11took the position that much of that was
0:41:11 > 0:41:13state secrets or classified
0:41:13 > 0:41:15and couldn't be shared with the US,
0:41:15 > 0:41:19so without being able to put our hands directly on that
0:41:19 > 0:41:24type of evidence, it would have been difficult to bring
0:41:24 > 0:41:27the kind of corruption case we would have wanted to bring.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33But the US authorities did not give up.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35After a lengthy investigation,
0:41:35 > 0:41:40BAE admitted criminal charges for wilfully misleading
0:41:40 > 0:41:43the US government about payments made to win contracts.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49A US court fined BAE 400 million,
0:41:49 > 0:41:53at the time one of the largest corporate fines in history.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01A few months after Britain shut down its investigation,
0:42:01 > 0:42:05the UK government signed another multi-billion-pound extension
0:42:05 > 0:42:08to the Al-Yamamah deal,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11guaranteeing thousands of British jobs in the aerospace industry.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21For Peter Gardiner, the man who had broken the scandal,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23life would never be the same again.
0:42:25 > 0:42:26The fallout was pretty bad for me.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28I lost my business.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32The financial strain was...broke my marriage.
0:42:34 > 0:42:35And I've...
0:42:36 > 0:42:39I tried to get a job in the industry,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42but I was now a known whistle-blower.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44I hate that phrase.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46And...
0:42:46 > 0:42:49I did lots of different... I did cleaning jobs.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52I had to clean churches, I cleaned restaurants, I did anything,
0:42:52 > 0:42:54but I tried to get back into the industry.
0:42:54 > 0:42:56Everybody was very nice, but...
0:42:58 > 0:42:59..they couldn't take the risk.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04These deals actually undermine
0:43:04 > 0:43:07the rule of law in the United Kingdom itself
0:43:07 > 0:43:10or in other selling countries. Why do I say that?
0:43:10 > 0:43:17Because the reality is that those who either arrange,
0:43:17 > 0:43:20and in some instances, in the case of senior politicians,
0:43:20 > 0:43:23condone this bribery and corruption,
0:43:23 > 0:43:28never face the legal consequences of their actions.
0:43:28 > 0:43:34So on the most corrupt transaction the world has ever seen,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37nobody has ever faced justice.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46For 40 years, a series of corruption scandals have touched
0:43:46 > 0:43:49many of the most senior Saudi royals.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52Prince Bandar bin Sultan,
0:43:52 > 0:43:56one of those accused of taking money from the Al-Yamamah deal,
0:43:56 > 0:43:58gave an interview in 2001
0:43:58 > 0:44:00where he appeared to justify corruption.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04We did not invent...
0:44:06 > 0:44:07..corruption.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09This has happened since Adam and Eve.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11I mean, Adam and Eve were in heaven.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14And they had hanky-panky, and they had to go down to earth.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16So, I mean, this is human nature.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20Now, if you tell me that building this whole country
0:44:20 > 0:44:23and spending 350 billion out of 400 billion,
0:44:23 > 0:44:27that we had misused or are kept corrupt with 50 billion,
0:44:27 > 0:44:29I'll tell you, yes.
0:44:33 > 0:44:38People in the West accuse Arab royal families of being corrupt
0:44:38 > 0:44:40because Arab royal families are very wealthy,
0:44:40 > 0:44:42as Western royal families are,
0:44:42 > 0:44:45and they generated their wealth in the same form or manner.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48The Queen of Holland is wealthy. The Queen of Sweden is wealthy.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51You know, and British nobility is extremely wealthy.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53So elites have enriched themselves,
0:44:53 > 0:44:57and there is no reason why the House of Saud
0:44:57 > 0:44:59should be held to a different standard
0:44:59 > 0:45:01than the House of Windsor, for example, has.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03I think what has happened in the West
0:45:03 > 0:45:07is that elites have found sort of much more sophisticated ways
0:45:07 > 0:45:09of enriching themselves from power.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13Maybe the elites in Saudi Arabia are still on the more basic level.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20In recent years, the House of Saud has been working hard on its image.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26It wants the world to see it as a modern, outward-looking country,
0:45:26 > 0:45:29ready to do business with the world.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35One man who symbolises this new, modern image
0:45:35 > 0:45:38is Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal.
0:45:43 > 0:45:49He is a nephew of the King, a new type of Saudi billionaire.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54With stakes in Twitter, Facebook and Apple,
0:45:54 > 0:45:56his worldwide business empire
0:45:56 > 0:45:58has been valued as high as 30 billion.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03He's the richest person in Saudi Arabia, which is saying a lot,
0:46:03 > 0:46:05and he's easily the best-known Saudi businessman
0:46:05 > 0:46:08and probably the best-known Arab businessman of any kind.
0:46:15 > 0:46:20One company in which the Prince has invested is Ballast Nedam,
0:46:20 > 0:46:22a Dutch building firm.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25Ballast Nedam specialises in infrastructure
0:46:25 > 0:46:28so they build roads, hospitals, airbases,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31and have quite a history of working in Saudi Arabia.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35Ballast Nedam won a contract to refit
0:46:35 > 0:46:37airfields for the Kingdom's air force.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42The deal was worth half a billion dollars.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45But the Dutch prosecutors discovered something
0:46:45 > 0:46:47very unusual about the way it worked.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52The company kept a secret set of accounts.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55These accounts were known as the shadow administration.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59The shadow administration that was found
0:46:59 > 0:47:04by the Dutch Serious Fraud Office contained a list of about 30 names.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06A lot of those names are Saudi nationals.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10But they also include the very top of the Saudi royal family,
0:47:10 > 0:47:11the late King Fahd,
0:47:11 > 0:47:14and then the Crown Prince, his brother,
0:47:14 > 0:47:16the late King Abdullah.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24Prosecutors believed that this was a list of people
0:47:24 > 0:47:27who were to receive payments totalling
0:47:27 > 0:47:29hundreds of millions of dollars.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33However, the payments were, in reality, bribes.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38Backhanders paid to ensure the company were awarded the contract
0:47:38 > 0:47:41to build the airports.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44It's not often that you see in black and white...
0:47:46 > 0:47:50..the documents effectively outlining the corrupt relationship
0:47:50 > 0:47:54and who the payments are going to go to and the scale of the payments.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56It's the exception rather than the rule.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58So this really is extraordinary.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01Leaked documents show that the bulk of the bribes
0:48:01 > 0:48:04went to someone who was already a billionaire
0:48:04 > 0:48:05many times over.
0:48:05 > 0:48:07OK.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal,
0:48:10 > 0:48:13Saudi Arabia's most flamboyant businessman.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17He received 316 million.
0:48:18 > 0:48:23The contract was worth 580 million,
0:48:23 > 0:48:26but in order to get the contract,
0:48:26 > 0:48:31Ballast Nedam had to pay 330 million,
0:48:31 > 0:48:36so 57% of the contract was paid for bribery.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39Today, Ballast Nedam has new owners
0:48:39 > 0:48:43who say they have implemented more robust compliance policies
0:48:43 > 0:48:46to prevent anything like this happening again.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal
0:48:52 > 0:48:54has refused to comment on the case.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00He's not the only one.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03When Dutch prosecutors fined Ballast Nedam 5 million euros
0:49:03 > 0:49:06for making illegal payments to foreign agents,
0:49:06 > 0:49:09they didn't say which country those agents were from.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13Up until this day, officially,
0:49:13 > 0:49:16Saudi Arabia has never been mentioned,
0:49:16 > 0:49:19neither by the Dutch government nor Ballast Nedam as being
0:49:19 > 0:49:22the country that is at the centre of this bribery scandal.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Saudi Arabia is important to the Netherlands,
0:49:25 > 0:49:27as it is to a lot of Western European countries.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30I'd say ambivalent is the best word to describe the relationship
0:49:30 > 0:49:33the Netherlands have with Saudi Arabia.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35They are friends, but at the same time,
0:49:35 > 0:49:38they are the kind of friends you don't want to have.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42The Dutch bribery scandal is just the latest in a very long line.
0:49:43 > 0:49:45Now it's finally accepted,
0:49:45 > 0:49:49corruption in Saudi Arabia has got out of control.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52When you see other people getting away with it, you emulate them.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56And you think that that becomes an accepted policy,
0:49:56 > 0:49:58and in a way, it was.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02And that's why you have to apply shock therapy to change it.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04SIRENS WAIL
0:50:04 > 0:50:09In November 2017, that shock therapy arrived.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15It all happened in a sort of blizzard of activity.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18The main hotel in which foreigners are kept in Riyadh,
0:50:18 > 0:50:20the Ritz-Carlton, had been emptied.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25They'd shut down the royal airport used for private planes
0:50:25 > 0:50:28by members of the royal family when they're leaving the country.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31Large police movements, borders closed,
0:50:31 > 0:50:35it had all the characteristics of a coup.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38The King decrees the creation of a new and all-powerful
0:50:38 > 0:50:40anti-corruption committee,
0:50:40 > 0:50:43chaired by his son, Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47Hours later, they've seized as many as 500 of the rich people
0:50:47 > 0:50:49in Saudi Arabia in the middle of the night, 11 of them princes.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51They've hauled them all
0:50:51 > 0:50:54into the Ritz-Carlton hotel, which has been turned into a prison.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00This was dramatic, it was almost like a theatrical performance
0:51:00 > 0:51:03because the humiliation was really absolute.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10The corruption crackdown was led by the new power behind the throne,
0:51:10 > 0:51:13Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18Very few names have been released,
0:51:18 > 0:51:20but among those detained at the Ritz
0:51:20 > 0:51:23and accused of corruption were...
0:51:23 > 0:51:25Prince Turki bin Abdullah,
0:51:25 > 0:51:27who made millions from the company that enveloped
0:51:27 > 0:51:30the government of Malaysia in a huge bribery scandal.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36Prince Turki bin Nasser,
0:51:36 > 0:51:38the major general in the Saudi Air Force
0:51:38 > 0:51:42who received tens of millions in luxury travel from BAE
0:51:42 > 0:51:44as part of the Al-Yamamah contract.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49And even Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal,
0:51:49 > 0:51:52the most high-profile and flamboyant Saudi billionaire,
0:51:52 > 0:51:54linked to the Dutch corruption case.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58These are some really big names in the Kingdom
0:51:58 > 0:51:59that he's been targeting,
0:51:59 > 0:52:01not just people in the royal family,
0:52:01 > 0:52:03but heads of industry, heads of telecoms,
0:52:03 > 0:52:05heads of entertainment channels.
0:52:07 > 0:52:10This is a very, very significant signal.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13I think it has been widely acknowledged
0:52:13 > 0:52:15by the very senior leaders in Saudi Arabia
0:52:15 > 0:52:17that there has been corruption.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20They freely acknowledge that this is quite endemic,
0:52:20 > 0:52:21it was almost systematic.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27I think this is a monumental shift in the way
0:52:27 > 0:52:29the government is tackling corruption.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31In the past, the government has fought corruption,
0:52:31 > 0:52:33but they were always half-measures.
0:52:33 > 0:52:34What is happening today
0:52:34 > 0:52:36is that the government is sending a very clear message
0:52:36 > 0:52:38that corruption will not be tolerated,
0:52:38 > 0:52:40regardless of who is behind it.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46The Saudi government hopes to recover more than 100 billion
0:52:46 > 0:52:48which it says has been creamed off.
0:52:50 > 0:52:55So far, nearly 400 people have had their bank accounts frozen.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59And there have been allegations that detainees have been tortured.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03It is remarkable that Saudi Arabia got to the stage
0:53:03 > 0:53:07where it is actually imprisoning its own royals.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13The House of Saud is now in a state of fear and terror.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16Princes who believed in the past
0:53:16 > 0:53:21that they were above the law, and above any kind of reproach,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24now have to fear that they could be next,
0:53:24 > 0:53:26that their fortunes could be gone after.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30The Crown Princes's corruption crackdown
0:53:30 > 0:53:33garnered glowing headlines.
0:53:33 > 0:53:34But it has also raised questions
0:53:34 > 0:53:38about Mohammed bin Salman's own vast wealth.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41He has put corruption number one,
0:53:41 > 0:53:43on the top of his agenda,
0:53:43 > 0:53:46and people, now, he has turned the spotlight on himself.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52In October 2016, it was reported
0:53:52 > 0:53:56that the Crown Prince splashed out 500 million
0:53:56 > 0:53:58on a superyacht on a whim.
0:54:01 > 0:54:04He is believed to have spent 300 million
0:54:04 > 0:54:05on a huge French chateaux,
0:54:05 > 0:54:07rebuilt from scratch...
0:54:08 > 0:54:10..complete with a gold-leaf fountain.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15320 million, we're still not done.
0:54:15 > 0:54:19He has denied allegations that he was behind a world-record bid
0:54:19 > 0:54:22for Leonardo da Vinci's painting of Jesus Christ.
0:54:22 > 0:54:29At Christie's, 400 million is the bid, and the piece is sold.
0:54:29 > 0:54:31CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:54:33 > 0:54:35Mohammed bin Salman is a privileged prince
0:54:35 > 0:54:39who is in charge of the economy. He is in charge of the defence budget.
0:54:39 > 0:54:44He is in charge of Saudi Arabia. And he's not accountable.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47There is no elected government to question him.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50If you ask questions, you will end up being detained.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56That night in November, the Crown Prince also took control
0:54:56 > 0:54:59of all three Armed Forces in the country.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04Among those detained was the son of the previous king,
0:55:04 > 0:55:06and the head of the National Guard.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11Some say the arrests were less about corruption
0:55:11 > 0:55:13and more about seizing power.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18In effect, the Crown Prince has rolled up his critics,
0:55:18 > 0:55:21his potential opponents within the royal family.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23It was a raw demonstration
0:55:23 > 0:55:26of a level of power that none of his predecessors had.
0:55:28 > 0:55:33We've seen a purge of the Saudi royal family and the Saudi elite,
0:55:33 > 0:55:37that we've never seen anything like before in Saudi society.
0:55:37 > 0:55:42We've seen two crown princes removed from the line of succession
0:55:42 > 0:55:44with no explanation provided.
0:55:44 > 0:55:46These are unprecedented developments,
0:55:46 > 0:55:49and it raises real possibilities of further fractures
0:55:49 > 0:55:51within the royal family.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55Some fear, without a clear legal process,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58the Crown Prince's anti-corruption drive could fail.
0:56:00 > 0:56:01It is a bit disturbing
0:56:01 > 0:56:06because of the absence of any identifiable due process.
0:56:06 > 0:56:07It is autocratic.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12Whether it is a step toward a better Saudi Arabia,
0:56:12 > 0:56:16a less corrupt one, one with greater transparency,
0:56:16 > 0:56:19and decision-making, or not, we can't say at this point.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23The Kingdom is at a crucial crossroads.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25Its politics, its economy,
0:56:25 > 0:56:30its society are all changing in ways that we have never seen before.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34In some ways, the perfect storm is gathering around Saudi Arabia today.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39Next time, faced with a restless, young population,
0:56:39 > 0:56:43the House of Saud finally offers change.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45A royal decree has been issued in Saudi Arabia
0:56:45 > 0:56:48giving women the right to drive.
0:56:49 > 0:56:51APPLAUSE
0:56:51 > 0:56:54But can the family transform itself enough to survive?
0:56:54 > 0:56:56If something happens to Saudi Arabia,
0:56:56 > 0:56:59this would be catastrophic for the region,
0:56:59 > 0:57:01and, frankly, catastrophic for the world.