Exclusive: Saudi state taking control of Binladin construction giant - sources

Reuters ^ | January 11, 2018 / 8:38 AM | Stephen Kalin, Tom Arnold, Reem Shamseddine

[Zhang Fei]

RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is taking managerial control of Saudi Binladin Group and discussing a possible transfer of some of the giant construction group’s assets to the state while its chairman and other family members are in detention, sources told Reuters.

Binladin, which had over 100,000 employees at its height, is the biggest builder in the country and important to Riyadh’s plans for large real estate, industrial and tourism projects to help diversify the economy beyond oil.

However, the group has been hurt financially in the past couple of years by a slump in the construction industry and a temporary exclusion from new state contracts after a crane accident killed 107 people at Mecca’s Grand Mosque in 2015. It was forced to lay off thousands of employees.

Riyadh’s move to take control appears aimed at ensuring the group can continue to serve Saudi Arabia’s development plans, said banking and industry sources, who declined to be named due to the political and commercial sensitivity of the matter.

The government detained scores of senior officials and businessmen in October as part of a sweeping crackdown on corruption. The Binladin group’s chairman Bakr Bin Laden and several family members have been held, the sources said.

Saudi officials are trying to negotiate settlements with detainees, saying they aim to claw back some $100 billion of funds that rightfully belong to the state. The talks on Binladin’s future are part of this effort, the sources said.

Since the detention of Bin Laden family members, the finance ministry has formed a five-member committee, including three government representatives, to oversee the group’s business and handle relations with suppliers and contractors, the sources said.

Binladin executives did not respond to phone calls seeking comment. Finance ministry officials and the government media office also did not respond to

[Zhang Fei]

My guess is that this is partly payback for the bin Ladins being indirectly involved (through their blood ties to Osama) in a supersized coup attempt against the Saudi royal family via the 9/11 attacks. The idea behind the attacks was that the US would invade Saudi Arabia and topple the al-Saud family, thereby uniting the Muslim world behind al Qaeda’s plan to make bin Laden the first Caliph since the Ottomans were removed from power by Kemal Ataturk. Assuming al Qaeda was able to eject the US from Saudi Arabia the way the Afghans ejected the Soviets, the bin Ladin family would graduate, from mere retainers to a royal family, to being the royal family.

In addition, Saudi Arabia also suffered a huge hit to its favorability rating among Americans in the wake of 9/11. It went from 47% favorable and 46% unfavorable in Feb 2001 to 29% favorable and 67% unfavorable in Feb 2019, almost 18 years after the 9/11 attacks. In a traditional Arab society where collective responsibility is pretty much a given, there's no question that the bin Ladin family has a lot to answer for.

[Farmer Dean]

Here’s hoping that the Saudis head chop Osama’s DNA to extinction.

[yarddog]

Interesting.

[bert]

Or, the company is over extend and in a downturn of mega projects tried to cut political funding corners and is unable to recover

[Capt. Tom]

My guess is that this is partly payback for the bin Ladins being indirectly involved (through their blood ties to Osama) in a supersized coup attempt against the Saudi royal family via the 9/11 attacks.

I would think the Saudis would be proud of Osama bin Laden and the Muslims who attacked us on 9-11.

The Saudis are Wahhabi Sunni Muslims and have spent billions of dollars all over the world to promote the fundamentals of Islam, which means they would not have any use or love for us infidels , and would relish us getting killed. - Tom

[Zhang Fei]

[I would think the Saudis would be proud of Osama bin Laden and the Muslims who attacked us on 9-11.

The Saudis are Wahhabi Sunni Muslims and have spent billions of dollars all over the world to promote the fundamentals of Islam, which means they would not have any use or love for us infidels , and would relish us getting killed. - Tom]

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They make a show of piety because their troglodyte population demands it. They export their nutjobs because it’s preferable (both to them and to us) to these nutjobs fomenting Islamist revolution at home. We don’t need al Qaeda in charge of the region’s oilfields, and sending nukes in the direction of our cities with the hundreds of billions in annual funding they would get directly from the oil revenues.

Remember how left-wingers assured us that Saddam’s Iraq was secular? How is it that the Sunni Arabs in Iraq, supposedly the most secular people in a secular nation, formed the backbone of an Islamist revolt that killed thousands of GI’s? The simple answer is that they’re not actually secular. And that’s in Iraq.

If we killed the entire population of Saudi Arabia, except for the royals while replacing that population with Filipino Catholics, I suspect the al Sauds would be baptized and take Holy Communion the very next day. Real life isn’t a Disney movie. Subjects aren’t led by the nose. Sunni Muslims in particular are partial to violent revolution against insufficiently devout rulers. The Sunni sect is derived from Muhammad’s generals who killed Muhammad’s grandson, whereas the Shiite sect holds the view that Muhammad’s line was the legitimate successor to the Caliphate. Bottom line is that if Sunnis have no problem with killing Muhammad’s grandson, they certainly have no issues with killing *any* Muslim who stands in the way of the true faith, and that includes the entire Saudi royal family.

It used to be that illiterate Muslims were led by their priests as to what Islam was all about. Be good to your parents. Don’t leave marks when you beat your wife. Be loyal to your sultan. Whereas illiteracy is all but stamped out among the Muslim community today. They can read the Koran for themselves, in all its blood-soaked glory. And that Koran tells them it’s just peachy to kill and make an example of their rulers in gruesome ways, for insufficient devotion to its precepts.

[Zhang Fei]

That’s leaving aside the question of why you’d be proud of someone who inflicts huge damage on a third party and tries to stick you with the bill. Let’s say some Christian explodes a bomb that kills a thousand Muslims, and points the finger to you as his inspiration and mentor. Would you be proud of him?

[Spiridon]

Saudi Arabia’s theology inspired Al-Qaeda the movement which is something greater than Al-Qaeda the organization.

In Syria and other places the movement inspired by Saudi theology lives on and the USA should not be involved in supporting the jihadists of Saudi Arabia like in Syria.

[Capt. Tom]

Let’s say some Christian explodes a bomb that kills a thousand Muslims, and points the finger to you as his inspiration and mentor. Would you be proud of him?

I wouldn't, but the Saudis Wahhabi Muslim religious beliefs require them to subjugate ,convert or kill us infidels.
They should be proud of Muslims following the fundamentals of Islam as were many Muslims around the world.
Saudis have to feign compassion too us infidels because deception is a big part of the Muslim dealings with us unsuspecting naïve victims.
Muslims call it Taqiyya. - Tom

[Zhang Fei]

[Saudi Arabia’s theology inspired Al-Qaeda the movement which is something greater than Al-Qaeda the organization.

In Syria and other places the movement inspired by Saudi theology lives on and the USA should not be involved in supporting the jihadists of Saudi Arabia like in Syria.]

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The Saudi royals have been around a couple of hundred years. Islam has been around 1400 years. Long before the Saudi royals were an itch in some bedraggled Bedouin’s man dress, Islam was expanding around the world. It wasn’t Saudis who defeated the Persians and the Byzantines. It wasn’t Saudis who conquered Spain and renamed it al Andalus. And it wasn’t certainly wasn’t Saudis who fought Charles Martel at Tours. Muslims don’t kiss the behinds of the Saudi royalty - they criticize it for not standing up to, and being a lackey of the West.

[Spiridon]

The great debate in the West should be about who is the lackey of who?

Saudi money seems to equal deference to Islam in the minds of many.

One of the most disturbing videos I saw was of my President sword dancing with the Saudi royals in 2017 and taking their money to invest in this country.

[Capt. Tom]

The Saudi royals have been around a couple of hundred years. Islam has been around 1400 years.

We have to deal with the Saudis in our lifetime.

Richard Wellen - 2016
As such, 1979 didn’t just mark the year when the export of the “Islamic Revolution” began … [it] was also when Saudi Arabia began planting the seeds of Sunni extremism, the bitter fruits of which are still being harvested today in the lawless valleys of Pakistan, in Raqqa, the capital of Islamic State, and also in the West, in the heads of confused young men. And in the kingdom itself: Now, Sunni extremism is even threatening the country where it was once spawned.

[Zhang Fei]

[I wouldn’t, but the Saudis Wahhabi Muslim religious beliefs require them to subjugate ,convert or kill us infidels.
They should be proud of Muslims following the fundamentals of Islam as were many Muslims around the world.
Saudis have to feign compassion too us infidels because deception is a big part of the Muslim dealings with us unsuspecting naïve victims.
Muslims call it Taqiyya. - Tom ]

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All Muslims are required to subjugate, convert or kill infidels. There is no difference between the various Islamic sects on this subject. The Turks weren’t Wahhabis, yet killed over a million Armenians before and after the dissolution of the Ottoman empire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adana_massacre_of_1909
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide

Indonesians Muslims weren’t Wahhabis, yet slaughtered hundreds of thousands of unbelievers in a jihad back in the 1960’s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_mass_killings_of_1965%E2%80%9366

[Zhang Fei]

[As such, 1979 didn’t just mark the year when the export of the “Islamic Revolution” began … [it] was also when Saudi Arabia began planting the seeds of Sunni extremism, the bitter fruits of which are still being harvested today in the lawless valleys of Pakistan, in Raqqa, the capital of Islamic State, and also in the West, in the heads of confused young men. And in the kingdom itself: Now, Sunni extremism is even threatening the country where it was once spawned. ]

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Sunni extremism doesn’t come from the Wahhabis. It comes from the Koran and the wombs of religious Muslims, who have more children, earlier, than secular Muslims. The way towards secular Islam is genocide, by killing the majority of Muslims that are religious. Since that’s not a practical option, we work with the people who are somewhat friendly, such as the Saudi royal family, rather than the Syrian Alawite family that sponsored both Syrian and Iraqi guerrillas who killed thousands of GI’s in Iraq and, before that, sponsored various Palestinian terrorist groups and Hezbollah in their attacks on American targets.

[Zhang Fei]

The great debate in the West should be about who is the lackey of who?

Saudi money seems to equal deference to Islam in the minds of many.

One of the most disturbing videos I saw was of my President sword dancing with the Saudi royals in 2017 and taking their money to invest in this country.

For presidents to partake of local festivities arranged in their honor is a fairly normal activity. That's why Saudis show up in business suits when they hit Washington DC and shake hands with women, which they're not actually allowed to do in Saudi Arabia.

It's the equivalent of wearing a lei when you show up in Honolulu. The Saudis will invest in the US whether or not the President shows up. The reason they talk it up is so the President gets to take credit. It's basically a dog-and-pony show for both parties' benefit. The President gets to talk up his talents at making friends and influencing people. For the Saudi royals - it's their way of signaling to any rivals within (factional rivals in the royal family) or without (disaffected Islamist nutjobs who want to take the throne, Iran or Yemen) that anyone who's thinking of screwing with them that Uncle Sam will kick their butts.

[Capt. Tom]

The Turks weren’t Wahhabis, yet killed over a million Armenians before and after the dissolution of the Ottoman empire.
Indonesians Muslims weren’t Wahhabis, yet slaughtered hundreds of thousands of unbelievers in a jihad back in the 1960’s.

It was Wahhab in the 1700s who got Islam back to fundamentals and Got rid of religious trappings thay had crept into Islam.
Wahhab got the Muslims back to fundamentals, focusing on us hated Infidels, and also killing the Shia heretics.
His influence is strong today. - Tom

[Zhang Fei]

[It was Wahhab in the 1700s who got Islam back to fundamentals and Got rid of religious trappings thay had crept into Islam.
Wahhab got the Muslims back to fundamentals, focusing on us hated Infidels, and also killing the Shia heretics.
His influence is strong today. - Tom ]

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And those fundamentals were put in place by Muhammad 1000 years before Wahhab was even an itch in his daddy’s man dress. There is nothing new or secret about what he preached. It’s all in the Koran, the literal word of Allah. Iran today executes Christians and other non-believers on a routine basis. It is only held back from external actions by its moribund economy and the reality that after the Marine barracks massacre (200 dead) and the 444-day embassy hostage incident, the US needs no excuse to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age.

[Spiridon]

I think that’s the problem with the US-Saudi relationship.

Who’s getting ‘leied’?