Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expanded the circle of confrontation with former security official Saad Al-Jabri, filing a lawsuit against him in Canada.
With this step, bin Salman aims to confront the lawsuit filed against him by Al-Jabri for the attempt to assassinate him.
Ten state-owned Saudi companies have filed the lawsuit against Al-Jabri, alleging that he embezzled billions of dollars.
This reflects a development that is deepening the battle between bin Salman and Al-Jabri.
The companies owned by Tahakom Investments – a subsidiary of the Saudi sovereign foreign wealth fund headed by bin Salman, have filed the case in the Ontario Supreme Court in Canada, where Al-Jabri is currently living in exile.
The lawsuit alleges that Al-Jabri colluded with his former boss, former Saudi crown prince Muhammad bin Nayef, and received $1.2 billion in embezzled funds, with bin Nayef transferring at least $55 million to Jabri in illegal payments.
On Friday, the Canadian court ordered a worldwide asset freeze against Jabri and demanded that his assets be disclosed according to the Wall Street Journal’s court documents.
The lawsuit claimed that “while Jabri’s hand was hidden, his fingerprints were everywhere.”
Al-Jabri is accused of obtaining “unlawful gains”, including 26 properties in the Kingdom valued at over $43 million in total and two five-star hotels in Boston and several properties in Canada.
The lawsuit alleges that Al-Jabri transferred two properties in Geneva and Vienna, worth a total of $400 million, from a Tahakom subsidiary to an entity he controlled.
However, the allegations’ centre is Saudi companies’ claim that Al Jabri defrauded them by spending $11 billion of state funds while working at the Ministry of Interior under bin Nayef’s leadership.
The companies say it is about the money – earmarked for counterterrorism activities – for him and his family.
For his part, Al-Jabri’s family considered the case against him part of “desperate attempts to divert the world’s attention from bin Salman’s crimes.
Sources close to Jabri confirmed that he welcomed the opportunity to confront Mohammed bin Salman in neutral judicial forums.