June 13, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 27, 1428

RIYADH, June 12: The chief of Saudi National Security Council and former Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, currently at the centre of allegations in the British media regarding ‘unauthorised’ funds by the UK defence giant BAE, issued a rare press statement insisting that all the funds diverted to the account at Riggs Bank in Washington DC had been received on behalf of the Saudi government.

“The allegations in The Guardian have nothing to do with the truth and reality but represent a pinnacle of slander and lies,” the former envoy to US said in a statement carried by the SPA.

Prince Bandar explained: “Last week the Guardian newspaper published stories alleging that secret payments totalling one billion British pounds had been paid to my personal account at Riggs Bank in Washington DC. Readers were encouraged to believe that the monies in question came from funds belonging to BAE and that the payments represented corrupt inducements to my personal benefit while I was serving as ambassador of my country to the USA.”

He said that allegations as stated above were not only untrue but were ‘grotesque’ in their absurdity because the funds mentioned were Saudi government money from start to finish.