14 September 2023 , 12:12
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Newcastle United’s majority owners have “facilitated and benefited from human rights abuses”, a US senate committee hearing has been told.
Human Rights Watch are calling on the US government to investigate and regulate Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund after an address to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) which alleged the investment vehicle was “directly involved” in human rights abuses linked to crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
HRW said that Bin Salman “has shown a clear interest in expanding his influence beyond Saudi’s borders, often through high-profile business deals with sports teams and leagues.” There was no specific reference to Newcastle United in the hearing.
Joey Shea, the NGO's Saudi Arabia researcher, told the Senate committee : “The PIF under MBS has facilitated and benefited from human rights abuses directly linked to the Crown Prince, including the 2017 'anti-corruption' crackdown that involved arbitrary detentions, abusive treatment, and the extortion of property from former and current government officials, prominent businessmen, and rivals within the royal family, as well as the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
She added: “US businesses considering a handshake with Saudi’s PIF should undertake extremely rigorous due diligence to ensure that sovereign wealth funds that invest in US companies are not furthering human rights abuses.”
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Speaking more generally about PIF’s attempts to enhance the image of the Saudi state, Shea added: “Over the last several years, the Saudi government has embarked on a vast campaign to rehabilitate its image and deflect from global perception of the Saudi state as a severe and persistent human rights violator, particularly under the de facto leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“The PIF has invested significantly in sportswashing, an effort to rebrand the country and distract from serious human rights abuses by hosting or sponsoring events that celebrate human achievement, like major sporting events.”
HRW said they have written to PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan on a number of occasions but he has not replied. Al-Rumayyan is also chairman of Newcastle, has previously sat on the board of Uber and is now head of the controversial golf merger between the PIF run LIV franchise at the PGA Tour.
The Premier League ’s stance remains that they “received legally binding assurances” that the Saudi state would not control Newcastle.” But US court submissions on behalf of PIF in relation to a case linked to LIV Golf stated that PIF is linked to the state.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has said he received "legally-binding assurances" of distance between PIF and the Saudi state. (PA)Shea told the Senate committee: “The league did not disclose what these assurances were, nor explain how they would be legally binding. Instead, the Premier League appears to have acquiesced to the notion that the Public Investment Fund is separate from the Saudi state, despite that the PIF is, observably and clearly, a Saudi state organ.”
Public filings show that PIF’s US holdings have increased to more than $35bn compared to $2.5bn in 2018.
Before the hearing the Senate issued a subpoena to the PIF’s US subsidiary over its partnership with the PGA Tour. The subpoena is demanding the release of documents related to PIF's framework agreement with the PGA Tour and other investments in the States.
"The Saudi's Public Investment Fund cannot have it both ways - if it wants to engage with the United States commercially, it must be subject to United States law and oversight," Senator Richard Blumenthal, chair of the PSI, said. "That oversight includes this Subcommittee's inquiry."