BANDAR BIN SULTAN
(Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud)
He observed that Saudi Arabia was the only oil rich country that at least modernized itself in spite of the amount wasted on corruption. Bandar’s point was that the bribes enabled the country to transform itself and without the bribes, modernization would have been impossible as in other oil counties.
He was referring to a religious requirement in the Koran that Muslims spend 10 percent of their wealth in helping the poor. However, the nation had huge oil revenues and virtually every government purchase and license involved kickbacks and “commissions” to someone—typically a member of the Royal Family or their cronies. See {627158}.
Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud is a member of the House of Saud and was Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005. From 2005 to 29 January 2015 he served as secretary general of the National Security Council, and was director general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014. On 1 July 2014 he was appointed King Abdullah's special envoy which lasted until 29 January 2015.
