A billionaire Saudi Prince who secretly sold a luxury private
jet to Muammar Gaddafi is now being sued by a businesswomen who says
she brokered the deal for $10 million in a London court.
Nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal who is listed as one of the richest men in the world by Forbes Magazine, is expected to give evidence in the trial.
The jet itself was sent by Gaddafi to pick up accused Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi after he was freed from a Scottish jail in 2009. It was also a symbolic discovery by rebels who were then photographed relaxing on the kitsch, silver sofas.
The distasteful interior of the plane is typically lined with silver and extravagant, unnecessary items for a jet; a personified plane of Gaddafi’s vulgarity.
Daad Sharab, a Jordanian businesswoman who had high-level contacts in Saudi Arabia and Libya, says Prince Alwaleed sold the Airbus A340 to Gaddafi for $120 million in a protracted process that lasted from 2001 to 2006.
Sharab, 52, says the prince promised her $10 million in commission but she received nothing. Alwaleed’s lawyers say she “played no part in the ultimate sale of the aircraft” and is not entitled to payment.
The case is linked to Britain because Sharab has an apartment in the country where she resides for some of the year and says she agreed the commission with a representative of the prince in a London restaurant in 2001.
In her written witness statement to the court, seen by Reuters, Sharab describes a long business relationship with the prince. She says that in 2003, at the height of negotiations over the aircraft, he asked her to marry him.
“I do not know whether he was sincere about this but I did not think he was joking,” she says.
Despite her rejection of the marriage proposal, she says she continued to act for the prince in negotiations and that it was only after the deal was finally completed in August 2006 that he cut her off and refused to pay.
Dressed in a smart black-and-white jacket, with sparkling jewelry, Sharab began giving evidence on Wednesday and is due to continue on Thursday. The prince is expected to give evidence on Monday and Tuesday next week.
Sharab’s witness statement describes a rarefied world where multi-million-dollar deals were discussed on the prince’s yacht off the French Riviera, in exclusive hotels, during flights on private jets, and in Gaddafi’s tent.
In a separate legal action in London, Prince Alwaleed is suing Forbes magazine for libel over an investigative article into his wealth. He says the magazine’s valuation of his fortune at $20 billion was short of the mark by $9.6 billion.
Source - Reuters
Nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal who is listed as one of the richest men in the world by Forbes Magazine, is expected to give evidence in the trial.
The jet itself was sent by Gaddafi to pick up accused Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi after he was freed from a Scottish jail in 2009. It was also a symbolic discovery by rebels who were then photographed relaxing on the kitsch, silver sofas.
The distasteful interior of the plane is typically lined with silver and extravagant, unnecessary items for a jet; a personified plane of Gaddafi’s vulgarity.
Daad Sharab, a Jordanian businesswoman who had high-level contacts in Saudi Arabia and Libya, says Prince Alwaleed sold the Airbus A340 to Gaddafi for $120 million in a protracted process that lasted from 2001 to 2006.
Sharab, 52, says the prince promised her $10 million in commission but she received nothing. Alwaleed’s lawyers say she “played no part in the ultimate sale of the aircraft” and is not entitled to payment.
The case is linked to Britain because Sharab has an apartment in the country where she resides for some of the year and says she agreed the commission with a representative of the prince in a London restaurant in 2001.
In her written witness statement to the court, seen by Reuters, Sharab describes a long business relationship with the prince. She says that in 2003, at the height of negotiations over the aircraft, he asked her to marry him.
“I do not know whether he was sincere about this but I did not think he was joking,” she says.
Despite her rejection of the marriage proposal, she says she continued to act for the prince in negotiations and that it was only after the deal was finally completed in August 2006 that he cut her off and refused to pay.
Dressed in a smart black-and-white jacket, with sparkling jewelry, Sharab began giving evidence on Wednesday and is due to continue on Thursday. The prince is expected to give evidence on Monday and Tuesday next week.
Sharab’s witness statement describes a rarefied world where multi-million-dollar deals were discussed on the prince’s yacht off the French Riviera, in exclusive hotels, during flights on private jets, and in Gaddafi’s tent.
In a separate legal action in London, Prince Alwaleed is suing Forbes magazine for libel over an investigative article into his wealth. He says the magazine’s valuation of his fortune at $20 billion was short of the mark by $9.6 billion.
Source - Reuters
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