At the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, diplomats talked about airing the grievances of disenchanted local youth using Facebook and Twitter. At the embassy in Khartoum, they reported anxiously on Iran’s military aid to Sudan.
Meanwhile the Saudi mission in Geneva was stuck dealing with a multi-million dollar limo bill racked up by a Saudi princess and her entourage.
The diplomatic documents published by WikiLeaks Friday are only the first batch of what the transparency group says will be a much larger release, but they’ve already provided an unusual level of insight into the day-to-day of Saudi diplomacy — giving a snapshot of the lavish spending habits of senior royals and the political intrigue percolating across the Middle East.
WikiLeaks has so far published roughly 60,000 documents, of which The Associated Press has only been able to authenticate a handful. But the organization has a long track record of hosting large leaks of government material and insists the latest batch is genuine.
Many of the scores of documents reviewed by AP appear aimed at keeping track of Iranian activity across the region or undermining Tehran’s interests.
Amid a small mountain of administrative documents, the AP found a 2009 invoice for an unpaid limousine bill racked up by Princess Maha Al Ibrahim, which Saudi media identify as the wife of senior Saudi royal Abdul-Rahman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
The invoice, from Geneva-based Golden Limousine Services and addressed to the Saudi mission there, says the princess skipped town after failing to paying a first installment of 1.5 million Swiss francs owed to the company and her hotel. When the bill was brought to her attention, “she declared that the amount was too high” and asked diplomats to handle the negotiations over its payment.
When reached by phone on Saturday, Louis Roulet, the administrator of the limousine service, confirmed the document’s authenticity and said he remembered the incident well. The total bill was “far more” than 1.5 million Swiss francs, he said, adding that it was eventually paid in full.
“We don’t work with this family anymore, for the obvious reasons,” Roulet said.
