Frank Vogl, the co-founder of Transparency International stated that when combine oil and multi-billion dollar investments flowing across the globe with authoritarian power, and you have the classic recipe for grand corruption. Like so many other dictators who seek to boost their powers through populist appeals, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 32, backed by his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, is playing the corruption card. The world is just witnessing the first act of a multi-act drama that could lead Saudi Arabia towards a more diverse economy from its current total reliance on oil. Or it could all end in utter chaos.
The Crown Prince is arresting princes, military officials and leading businessmen at the very same time as he pursues a war in Yemen against Iranian-backed forces. As if that weren’t enough, he is waging a diplomatic war against Qatar and moving to undermine the influence of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. It seems as if Saudi Arabia’s future ruler is just taking on too many battles on too many fronts. Under any circumstances, his domestic purge of actual and potential opponents, now underway, is a battle he must win.
Prominent people are being detained in Saudi Arabia on vague charges of corruption. Their bank accounts are being frozen. Saudi attorney-general Saud al-Mojeb said more than 200 people have been arrested with over 1,700 bank accounts frozen with assets of more than $100 billion, the AP reported.
Beyond that, the Crown Prince is keen to strengthen his direct control over the nation’s internal security, its military and its staggering hoard of oil-produced cash. He is seeking to build a national base of support among the nation’s youth and here an anti-corruption campaign is likely to have strong appeal. Nepotism and embezzlement by the powerful are widespread complaints by young Saudis.
According to analysts, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also wants to control the giant Saudi state-owned Aramco oil enterprise all by himself. And it is he who wants to determine whether or not to privatize some of it and who will get the multi-billion dollar commissions if this happens. The privatization of Aramco is controversial within the Saudi royal family and the new arrests may have muted some of the opposition. Financiers in the City of London and on Wall Street, strongly backed by the UK and US governments, are lobbying MBS right now.
After all, Aramco may be worth more than $2 trillion so an initial listing of just five percent of the company would generate vast commissions for the bankers and brokers involved in the deal in the City of London. Geopolitically, the far more sizzling possibility is that the Saudis will go for a private placement in China. If that happens, it will be a truly earth-shaking event. It would be the clearest signal yet of the West’s diminishing allure.
According to Frank Vogl, that commercial possibility is also why Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s move to turn to the latest dictator’s playbook, the one written five years ago by China’s President Xi Jinping, is only logical. President Xi used corruption charges very effectively to move against perceived rivals and enemies. MBS is now applying Xi’s medicine to once-powerful princes and some of the most prominent Saudi tycoons.
In 2012, President Xi declared war on corruption, knowing well the popular appeal of this cause. The result has been that more than 200,000 Chinese Communist Party officials and businessmen have been punished. Today, thanks to decisions at the recent 19th Communist Party Congress in Beijing, President Xi is the unrivaled leader of his nation with hundreds of former politicians and businessmen languishing in prison on charges of corruption.
The Chinese anti-corruption approach involves arresting people and prosecuting them without any form of due process. The same approach will be seen in Saudi Arabia. And, in both countries, there is no clear definition of corruption. Many of the arrests in China have been made without any public charges being posted. In Saudi Arabia, King Salman has just created a new anti-corruption committee chaired by the Crown Prince, without explaining its terms of reference.
Frank Vogl stated that the problem with this is simple: Corruption is usually seen as the abuse of public office for private gain, but this definition does not quite mesh with Saudi political realities. Saudi Arabia does not have a governing constitution. The royal family decrees. With the Saudi people viewed as subjects, the royal family sees all income flowing to the country as its own, to be disbursed as it likes, be it on fleets of Rolls Royces or on public health clinics.
None of that fazes Donald Trump. He forged a personal bond with Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman when he visited Saudi several months ago. Moreover, in the last few weeks, the Crown Prince has met at his palace with Trump son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner and with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
No wonder then that, right in the midst of the first news announcements of the arrests, corruption charges and cabinet replacements on November 4 in Riyadh, it was Donald Trump who went online. Trump dutifully tweeted “Would very much appreciate Saudi Arabia doing their IPO of Aramco with the New York Stock Exchange. Important to the United States!”
Playing the corruption card in Saudi Arabia
Water of Life
Origin Natural Mineral Water Factory is located in Oromia region, Alemgena town along the Addis Butajira road. The company that has been producing bottled mineral water for the last 10 years has now re-launched with a few changes based on studies and market feedback.
The company is also working closely with Schulze Global Investments, which acquired a minority share of Origin mineral water. With its new product now on the market, the company hopes to gain a substantial amount of the bottled water market share and it is confident that will happen.
Capital spoke to Amare Wossen, CEO of Origin Investment PLC about the company’s relaunched product and its future plans.
Capital: What is new about your product?
Amare Wossen: We re-launched Origin with a new taste and new packaging. The reason we did this is because the feedback we got from the market required us to make certain changes. We carried out a study that had the participation of around 2,500 people for the tasting the product and from the feedback, we changed some of the feature of the product to fit consumers’ requirement.
Some of the feedback we got was that the taste of the water was a bit heavy, other findings showed that people’s perspective to the way the product was packaged wasn’t always positive. The study we carried out took us a year and a half, we wanted to listen to what the market demanded carefully.
When we started Origin, one of the main things has been and continues to be that we don’t compromise on quality. It was to continue with this motto we have kept supplying the market with our bottled water that has a high content of minerals which are good for the body. It was the high mineral content that made the water taste different. Now, we have adjusted the taste without compromising the mineral content.
So we brought on board a new machine that would enable us to provide the same quality product without compromising its mineral content. This means that now Origin still maintains its mineral content and its certified mineral water status but it now has a lighter taste.
Our biggest assets remains quality, we are very careful and that is what we sell.
Capital: Origin has been on the market for ten years, why then did it take the company a long time to change its product? Didn’t it lose a lot of money?
Amare: We stood by our product; we knew that our product was as good as other well known mineral waters in the world. Just as we need minerals from our food, it should be the same for water. So when we brought the high mineral content water to the market, it was because we knew it was good.
The way it is done in this country is that the minerals are withdrawn from the water so that the taste of the water is not heavy. That is what we see in the market and that is what consumers want.
We tried to continue with our initial product because we had some segment of the population that also accepted it, but we also paid a price for that. That is why we decided to rethink the product and bring it back still having minerals but with a taste consumers are accustomed to.
Capital: There are different standards on water that the Standards Agency puts forward, but there seems to always be some issues with that as we sometimes see products on the market that have not met the standards that are set, what do you say about that?
Amare: Now the way it is done is that before factories start production and after, in different phases, studies are done. Based on that, after the water has been tested, it will be certified. I think the Standard Agency’s capacity is also growing so the issues surrounding standards are getting better.
Capital: When it comes to consumers, there isn’t a lot of awareness on the difference between bottled water and mineral water. Have you tried to address this information gap?
Amare: Throughout the ten years we have been producing, we had aligned all our activities including advertisements with the fact that mineral water is important for people. We were the only water company that stuck to the facts on how important mineral water is.
So through radio or TV, or whenever people visited our bottling facility, that is what we were trying to promote. We hope that in the future other institutions will also study this and carry out awareness creation activities. On our part, we will not stop promoting the importance of mineral water, we will continue to push on that and provide a nutritious product for our consumers.
Capital: Now that your new product has hit the market, have you faced any challenges so far? How are you trying to recapture market share?
Amare: Well, it has only been a week since our product has been on the market with a new look and taste. So far it has been really good; well received by consumers.
If you look at bottle water such as Evian, there TDS or mineral content reaches over 300 which is very high, so there were people, embassies and other organizations that are accustomed to that high mineral content and taste, it might be different for them now.
Capital: If you have fairly large consumers of the old product, wouldn’t you still be to produce it along with the new version? Why not have two products on the market?
Amare: That creates confusion for the people; we need to stick to one product and sell only that. That is what we are planning to do.
Capital: What are your future plans?
Amare: Well, by looking at the market demand, we might look into expansion and diversification of products in the future. We are also finishing some processes to start exporting our mineral water to neighboring countries such as Djibouti and Kenya. Especially taking into consideration the railway that goes to Djibouti, we are excited to venture into export soon.
Anteneh Feleke out of EFF Presidential race
Four weeks in to the much anticipated Ethiopian Football Federation National General Assembly in Semera, Oromia Regional State’s Football Federation withdrew its Presidential candidate from the coming election. Former footballer and successful business man Anteneh Feleke told ETV that the move taken by Oromia federation took him by surprise.
A “full investigation had been conducted about my background long before the federation nominated me for the presidential candidacy therefore I can’t understand why and how they changed their mind so quickly,” Anteneh remarked.
The former Saint George, Ethiopia Bunna and national team footballer Anteneh was a surprise choice to represent the Oromia region because he was a permanent resident in the capital. A professional footballer turned successful business man, many thought he was a complete candidate ready to pump new blood in the old-school football federation. However following the postponement of the election to December 25, 2017, Oromia withdrew Anteneh from the presidential race and said they would announce a replacement soon. The incumbent EFF president Juneidin Basha, former EFF Vice-President Teka Asfawa from Amhara, Olympic Committee President DrAsheber W/Giorgis from Southern region and Anteneh Feleke from Oromia are the front runners for the EFF Presidency election.
Welwalo entertains Bunna; Saint George faces Electric on Monday
League leaders Ethiopia Bunna travel to Welwalo Adigrat in the biggest clash today. Saint George and Ethio-Electric brandishes an old rivalry while Dedebit entertains Fasil Monday.
A 2-0 home win over vociferous visitors Arbaminch despite the absence of team skipper Mesoud Mohammed, Ethiopia Bunna tops the league table with seven points so Serbian head coach KostadinPapic is a happy person until the end of the honeymoon. The away showdown against huge home supporters WelwaloAdigrat is going to be the first real test for Papic.
Under pressure Gebremedin Haile’s JimmaAbaJifar entertains visitors SidamaBunna while 8thth in the table Woldya hosts 4th in the list new comers Mekelein Mohammed Al-Amoudin International stadium. A defeat to Zemariam W/Giorgis could mean a huge blow to the home side while an away win could make head coach YohannesSahle a hero back from the battle field with all three points.
Without strikers Salhadin Said (Injury) and AdaneGirma (Suspended), Saint George appears to be off to a good start as they returned from Yergalem after a 1-0 victory over Sidama Bunna. Four points from two matches, “The Horse Men” are in for a huge derby clash against Ethio-Electric on Monday. Two foreign players on the bench and team skipper Addis Negash red carded Electric’s 3-1 loss at home to visitors Welwalo is a hard blow to head coach BerhanuBayu who had been under pressure all through last season.
The other big match on Monday is in Addis Ababa featuring former champions Dedebit entertaining Gonder based visitors Fasil. FasikaAsfaw is the only player to join Dedebit this season. A win against a side that signed more than a dozen players including four foreigners could give head coach NegussieDesta and his squad a strong inspiration while a defeat could bring hard times to head coach MentesenotGetu.
