A BILLIONAIRE says a probe will show the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was not involved in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
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| Murdered journalist Jamal Khashogg |
SAUDI Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a top international businessman and friend of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, says an official investigation into the death will exonerate the country’s leader.
On the Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures, the prince asked Saudi Arabia to make public as soon as possible the results of the investigation.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi government and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
Prince Alwaleed told Fox News that an official Saudi investigation would show that the crown prince was not involved in Khashoggi’s killing.
“Please let’s give some time for the investigation to finish,” he said.
“I ask Saudi Arabia now publicly, through your program, to have the investigation made public as soon as possible so whereby I believe the Saudi Crown Prince will be 100 per cent vindicated and exonerated.”
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READ MORE Prince Alwaleed, dubbed the Warren Buffett of Saudi Arabia, was detained last year with dozens of other wealthy Saudis in a move by the crown prince to consolidate power and reform the country.
He was released in early January after an undisclosed financial agreement with the government.
Meanwhile his brother Prince Khalid bin Talal was released on Saturday after a year in detention, NDTV reports, citing confirmation from family members.
On Sunday, Prince Alwaleed said his detention was “forgiven and forgotten.”
The crown prince’s allies have said last year’s crackdown was a fight against corruption and Prince Alwaleed agreed.
“Thank God that, after this incident, many of those that were detained had a big cleaning process,” he said.
Prince Alwaleed denied reports that he had been tortured in custody and that officials stripped him of his wealth.
It comes as Prince Salman’s father embarks on a week-long domestic tour from Tuesday as the monarchy faces its worst political crisis in a generation over the murder of Khashoggi.
It is the first such trip for 82-year-old King Salman since he acceded to the throne of the world’s top oil exporter in 2015, according to local media.
He is expected to launch health, education and infrastructure projects, but few other details were available.
It was not immediately clear if the king’s powerful son would be participating in the tour.
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| Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman |
Online news site Sabq reported expected stops in the provinces of Qassim and Hail, both northwest of Riyadh.
Saudis discussed plan to lure Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, US intercepts show
Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal on murder of Jamal Khashoggi #SundayFutures @MariaBartiromo pic.twitter.com/OArE2wVqRQ— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 4, 2018
The US has intercepts of Saudi officials discussing a plan to lure journalist Jamal Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia and detain him, accordi...
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said the order to kill Khashoggi came from the “highest levels” of the Saudi government but that he did not believe King Salman was behind it.
Riyadh has blamed Khashoggi’s death on a “rogue operation”, and said the crown prince had no knowledge of the killing.
King Salman has taken a more hands-on role in Saudi policy after delegating vast powers to Prince Mohammed, who has embarked on sweeping social and economic reforms but has marginalised some senior royals and overseen a crackdown on dissent.