Ledger DC Journal - News, Politics & Crime

Fraud accusations and a multibillion-dollar pile of bad debt are at the center of what appears as a "Billionaire Saudis Family Feud" that pits Maan al-Sanea and his Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad al-Gosaibi and Bros., or AHAB against each other. The two families are linked by marriage.

Global Economic Meltdown Starts Debt Battle

The Wall Street Journal cites this scene from 30 years ago, and makes it sound like a 1980s TV movie. Margaret Coker wrote last week in an article titled, "A Saudi Family Feud Roils World Banks," about the entry into the wedding that started this partnership by al Sanea.

"When Ma'an al Sanea married into one of Saudi Arabia's richest families some 30 years ago, he raised eyebrows among his in-laws by rolling up to the traditional wedding tent in a Rolls Royce." She has more here including an interactive photo chart with details on members of the family.


Now the feud and the fallout "threatens to cast a pall over Saudi Arabia's image at a time when the global meltdown and credit crisis already have squeezed the kingdom's companies," an Associated Press article suggests.

"During the crisis, if anything at all, transparency has deteriorated, and that is one of the key cultural changes that has to take place, particularly among family owned companies — where the tendency to be opaque is far greater," Philipp Lotter, the Dubai-based senior vice president of Moody's Investor's Service told the AP.