Saudi presents brave face as fingers pointed at MBS over Khashoggi killing

Major deals worth over $55 billion were announced on the first day of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh in what seems to be an attempt by the Saudis to drown out global outrage over the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Deals in energy, transportation and the petrochemical sectors that involved Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Saudi Aramco and several international partners and entities were announced. Fifteen memorandums of understanding (or MOUs, an agreement to engage in a commercial partnership, in principle) were agreed.

“The MOUs reflect both Saudi Aramco’s and the Kingdom’s international partnership strategies and the determination to diversify the economy enhance the domestic investment environment and boost employment opportunities,” Saudi Aramco said in a statement yesterday, according to CNBC.

READ: Bin Salman is a ‘crazy thug’ who ordered Khashoggi’s murder

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is facing a major economic challenge to balance his country’s economy, secured a $6 billion in financial support from Riyadh on day one of the conferences. His participation in the conference dubbed “Davos in the desert” has been criticised but Khan, who has also sought assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), appears to have calculated that he has very few options at his disposal to turn the economy around.

Despite attempts to present a positive image, the killing of Khashoggi has cast a dark shadow over the investment conference. Riyadh is trying to behave as normal and even the Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman, also known as MBS, is expected to speak at the event despite strong allegations that the order to assassinate the Washington Post journalist was given by him. Yesterday both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Donald Trump gave the strongest hint since the crises broke that MBS was behind the killing.

Trump’s position has also moved significantly after initially appearing to make excuses for the Saudi royals. Asked about the crown prince’s possible involvement, Trump is reported in the Wall Street Journal to have said: “Well, the prince is running things over there more so at this stage. He’s running things and so if anybody were going to be, it would be him.”

In a telephone conversation with MBS Trump is reported to have posed the questions repeatedly and “in a couple of different ways”.

“My first question to him was, ‘Did you know anything about it in terms of the initial planning’,” Trump said. MBS replied that he didn’t, Trump said.

“I said, ‘Where did it start?’ And he said it started at lower levels.”

READ: Trump says Saudis staged ‘worst cover-up ever’ on Khashoggi; US revokes visas of some Saudis

Asked if he believed the denials, the president paused for several seconds. “I want to believe them. I really want to believe them,” he said.

Trump appears to be losing patience with the Saudis. Yesterday he described Saudi authorities as having staged the “worst cover-up ever”. The rebuke of MBS coincided with steps taken by the US to punish Saudi Arabia by pulling visas of Saudis involved in Khashoggi’s death.

Riyadh, at least for now, seems to have decided to accept the punitive measures without taking any steps to counter them. In an interview with Al Arabiya TV today Saudi’s central bank governor said the kingdom will not penalise foreign banks that boycotted the investment conference in Riyadh because of the fallout from the killing of Khashoggi.

His remarks follow comments made last week by Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih who knocked down the idea of another oil embargo suggested by a prominent Saudi commentator close to the regime, by insisting that Riyadh will not use its oil as political leverage in the dispute over the death of Khashoggi.