One of Britain\u2019s biggest consulting and accountancy firms has been negotiating
\nto land a major contract to help streamline and modernise Saudi Arabia\u2019s
\nmilitary, the Guardian can reveal.
\nPricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) confirmed it had tendered for the project,
\nwhich will be part of a wholesale transformation of the kingdom\u2019s defence
\nministry designed to better equip and support its frontline forces.
\nPwC declined to comment further about the talks. It said there was an \u201congoing
\ntender process with a number of participants pitching for work\u201d.
\nThe negotiations, for a deal that could be worth millions to the company, have
\ndrawn criticism from campaign groups. Campaigners have condemned the
\ncountry\u2019s involvement in the conflict in Yemen, claiming its airstrikes have
\nkilled civilians and amount to war crimes.<\/p>\n
Peter Frankental, Amnesty International UK\u2019s economic affairs programme
\ndirector, urged PwC to explain what due diligence it had undertaken before
\npitching for the work.
\n\u201cLike any company, international accountancy firms should ensure that they
\navoid contributing to human rights violations in their operations, or being
\ndirectly linked to them by their business relationships.
\n\u201cWe\u2019d like to know what due diligence the company has done. The United
\nNations guiding principles on business and human rights make it clear that a
\ncompany may be viewed as complicit if they are seen to benefit from abuses
\ncommitted by another party.\u201d
\nThe Saudi ministry of defence is run by Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin
\nAbdulaziz Al Saud. The 32-year-old, known as MbS, is said to be the world\u2019s
\nyoungest defence minister and is also the kingdom\u2019s deputy prime minister.<\/p>\n
Described by critics as an inexperienced firebrand, he has been the architect of
\nthe kingdom\u2019s intervention in Yemen, in which it has backed the exiled
\ngovernment over Iranian-supported Houthi rebels.<\/p>\n
This year the UN said the conflict had led to more than 22 million Yemenis \u2013
\nup to 80% of the population \u2013 requiring humanitarian aid.
\nJamie McGoldrick, the UN\u2019s humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, has
\ndescribed it as \u201can absurd and futile war\u201d and condemned the \u201cmounting
\ncivilian casualties caused by escalated and indiscriminate attacks throughout
\nYemen\u201d.
\nPwC already has a presence in Saudi Arabia, but it is the company\u2019s UK
\noperation that is behind the defence project.
\nPwC has launched a \u201ccall for resources\u201d \u2013 asking specialists and consultants in
\nLondon whether they would be interested in moving to Riyadh to start the
\nwork \u2013 because, it has said, it is \u201ccurrently finalising the deal\u201d.
\nThe company told staff that the Saudi ministry of defence was undergoing an
\n\u201cambitious transformation to modernise its armed forces at a size and scale
\nrarely seen before \u2026 [this] is at its most critical phase and they need support to
\nundertake this level of change.\u201d
\nIf it wins the contract, PwC is likely to be tasked with transforming several
\nsupport areas within the defence ministry. The first phase of the work is likely
\nto focus on how to reshape recruitment, resourcing, performance management
\nand strategic workforce planning, and how to manage and communicate
\nchange.<\/p>\n
The Guardian asked PwC what due diligence it had undertaken and how it
\nwould answer concerns about working with the Saudi military. The company
\ndeclined to respond.
\nThe Saudi embassy in London was asked about the scale and scope of the
\nproject but also declined to comment.
\nFrankental urged PwC to think again. \u201cAs any accountancy firm involved in
\nwork for the Saudi ministry of defence must know, the Royal Saudi air force
\nhas an appalling record in Yemen, with the Saudi-led military coalition having
\nindiscriminately bombed Yemeni homes, hospitals, funeral halls, schools and
\nfactories. Thousands of Yemeni civilians have been killed and injured.\u201d
\nAnna Macdonald, director of the Control Arms Secretariat, a global coalition
\nworking for international arms control, said the UK \u201cshould be focusing on
\ntrying to stop this terrible conflict, not assisting the Saudi government.\u201d
\nShe added: \u201cBritish companies should be very cautious indeed in what they are
\nsupporting. Yemen is the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crisis and getting worse
\nby the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe UK government and UK companies are fuelling this in continuing to
\nsupply bombs and military equipment to Saudi Arabia and its coalition
\npartners. Ordinary Yemenis need access to water, to humanitarian aid and,
\nmost pressingly of all, for the incessant bombing of their schools, hospitals,
\nmarkets and funerals to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia has defended its military operations in Yemen. This year the
\nforeign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, said the critics were wrong. \u201cThey criticise us
\nfor a war in Yemen that we did not want, that was imposed on us,\u201d he told the
\nBBC. \u201cThey criticise us for a war in Yemen that is a just war, that is supported
\nby international law.\u201d
\nJudeir blamed the Houthi rebels for blocking aid and contributing to the
\nhumanitarian crisis.
\nA spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
\nsaid firms had to operate by UK and international law, and there was no
\nrestriction on accountancy services in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of Britain\u2019s biggest consulting and accountancy firms has been negotiating to land a major contract to help streamline and modernise Saudi Arabia\u2019s military, the Guardian can reveal. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) confirmed it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[46,57,90,96,107,137,139,160,174,184,201,202,209,232,233,244,246,249,256,267,277,279,288],"class_list":["post-1391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aramco","tag-baroudi","tag-democracy","tag-doha","tag-embargo","tag-gas","tag-gazprom","tag-international-maritime-disputes","tag-lebanon","tag-maritime-disputes","tag-offshore","tag-oil","tag-opec","tag-putin","tag-qatar","tag-rosneft","tag-roudi","tag-russia","tag-saudi","tag-straddling-hydrocarbons-reserves","tag-total","tag-trump","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}