Friday 13 International Friday, September 28, 2018 Bin Laden business grew from humble beginnings Family came under scrutiny at home and abroad after 9/11 JEDDAH: In Saudi Arabia, the Bin Ladens are known as the went on a spending spree. Saudi Binladin Group snared contracts Kennedys of Jeddah for their wealth and tragedies. They built to manage construction of new projects worth tens of billions of Saudi Arabia’s roads, mosques and palaces. Family patriarch Mo- dollars, including a Riyadh financial district, a new airport in Jed- hammed died in a plane crash, as did the son who succeeded him. dah and an economic city on the Red Sea coast meant to house 2 Younger son Osama plotted the 9/11 attacks on the United States. million people. New deal allows Mohammed arrived in Saudi Arabia from Yemen during the The company handled the kingdom’s most sensitive projects, 1920s as an impoverished teenager, blind in one eye. He sought including expansions of the two holy mosques in Mecca and Israel natural gas his fortune amongst the pilgrims and hustlers of the Red Sea port Medina. For such deals, senior Bin Laden brothers, often Bakr, of Jeddah. After founding a small construction firm in 1931, he won Saleh and Saad, held negotiations directly with King Abdullah and exports to Egypt the favor of then King Abdulaziz by completing a palace for him a special unit within government the monarch created for them, within 20 days, according to a biography by former Saudi Binladin according to one Jeddah businessman who has known the family JERUSALEM: A US-Israeli consortium leading the development Group executive Khalaf Al Sibea. He became Saudi Arabia’s go- for decades. Those contracts generally involved Saudi Binladin of Israel’s offshore gas reserves announced yesterday a deal that to builder, earning contracts for the kingdom’s most strategically Group’s “Rush Projects” division, designed to perform work at would enable the export of natural gas to Egypt. Noble Energy significant projects. short notice for the government, he said. The rush division also and its Israeli partner Delek, along with Egyptian East Gas Com- As the conglomerate grew, the Bin Laden family, consisting of handled construction of King Abdullah’s new palace in Jeddah. pany, bought 39 percent of a disused pipeline connecting the some 70 children and dozens of wives, cultivated ties with King Not far from that palace, Bakr built a villa of his own with mar- Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon with the north Sinai. Abdulaziz’s sons and grandsons to secure the alliance’s longevity. ble corridors and swimming pools looking out onto the Red Sea, The consortum paid $518 million for the interest in the East Contracts were awarded and expanded through those relation- which he opened regularly for traditional all-male parties to cul- Mediterranean Gas Company pipeline. The mainly undersea ships, rather than a formal bidding process. Many were bestowed tivate the family’s royal relationships, said a source who attended pipeline will be used to transport natural gas from the Tamar on a cost-plus basis, in which the contractor earns a fee on top one such event. As they prospered at home, the brothers ex- and Leviathan reservoirs to Egypt from as early as 2019, al- of expenses. The problem with this model is that there is often no panded the business internationally, making particular inroads in lowing a 10-year $15 billion deal signed in February with incentive for the contractor to keep a lid on costs. Africa. Around 2011, they first floated the idea of an initial public Egypt’s Dolphinus to move forward, Delek said in a statement. The family came under scrutiny at home and abroad after Sept offer of shares in the company, by then a behemoth with more It will be the first time Egypt, which in 1979 became the first 11, 2001, when Osama, one of Mohammed’s younger sons, brought than 500 subsidiaries. Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, imports gas notoriety to the Bin Laden name. Under the quiet stewardship of With the company thriving, Bakr began to step into semi-re- from its neighbor. Israel had bought gas from Egypt but land chairman Bakr bin Laden, the company kept its footing and the tirement and spent much of his time at his mansion in Egypt’s sections of the pipeline were repeatedly targeted by Sinai ji- company went on to reach the height of its power during the reign Sharm al-Sheikh. He still managed the company’s relationship with hadists in 2011 and 2012, and soaring demand meant Egypt of King Abdullah, who took the throne in 2005. During Abdullah’s the senior royals, hopping back over the Red Sea in his private could use the gas domestically. — AFP 10-year rule, oil rocketed above $100 a barrel and the kingdom jet for important meetings. — Reuters.