Head of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ula cultural development arrested over corruption claims

Amr al-Madani, the head of the Al-Ula project in Saudi Arabia, was arrested over corruption allegations on 28 January. The chief executive of the huge development project in the country’s northwestern province is accused of “abuse of authority and money laundering“, a source from the Saudi anti-corruption agency (Nazaha) told local media. The allegations concern events prior to his Al-Ula appointment in 2017. He is accused of having benefited from contracts given by the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, a public scientific research fund, to a company he co-owns. The contracts were worth $55m. The source from the anti-corruption authority says that three of his partners have also been arrested, have made confessions and are now awaiting trial.Amr al-Madani’s arrest is the latest twist in the saga surrounding the vast cultural development of Al-Ula, one of the most ambitious projects launched by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman as part of his “Vision 2030” programme. In 2018, Prince Mohamed and French President Emmanuel Macron finalised a ten-year framework agreement, providing France with an exclusive partnership deal for this multi-billion dollar infrastructure project. Recently, however, it has emerged that French diplomatic sources are frustrated about the project’s slow progress. Amr al-Madani, meanwhile, has expressed mixed feelings about the relationship with French culture bodies, emphasising, in a letter to The Art Newspaper, the commitments he had made with British and American companies. A planned fund for French cultural heritage financed by Saudi Arabia is still under discussion. Jean-François Charnier, the scientific director of the French Agency for the Development of AlUla, which was founded in Paris in July 2018 as a result of the intergovernmental agreement signed by France and Saudi Arabia, stood down after he became embroiled in an investigation into the sale of allegedly looted Egyptian antiquities to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Charnier, who denies the allegations, was last year replaced by Sophie Makariou, who opened the Islamic department at the Louvre in 2003.In July, Gérard Mestrallet was replaced as head of the French agency for the development of Al-Ula by the former defence and foreign affairs minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. He recently appointed a close collaborator, Jean-Claude Mallet, as special counsellor. The French agency declined to comment on Amr al-Madani’s arrest, but a spokesperson says the project has been “sped up” in recent months. As examples the spokesperson cites renewed archaeological digs, exhibitions around the world, cinema programmes and exchanges, the appointment of the French architects Lacaton & Vassal for the cultural centre of Villa Hegra and the agreement signed with the Centre Pompidou for assisting in the creation of a contemporary museum on the site.