Thread by @SarahMarshallJP

Back underway again now. Prince Abdullah is being asked again about his dealings with investor Dr Rakan Al Harthy. The prince says that one example of when they worked together, as part of his role with the Saudi govt, on the Saudi Football Federation's King's Cup & Prince's Cup.

Representing Kevin McCabe, Paul Downes QC, asked the prince whether Sela Sports, for whom Dr Rakan is a CEO, had 'any interest in these matters'.
"They have a right to sell tickets [for the King's Cup & Prince's Cup]," said Prince Abdullah.
#twitterblades #sufc

Prince Abdullah is now being asked to go into detail about other occasions when he and Dr Rakan have worked together.
#twitterblades #sufc

The prince is telling the court that one example is when Sela (Sport) brought sponsors in for the Saudi National Football team.
#twitterblades #sufc

Prince Abdullah is now going through some of the information he was asked about where the £1million he raised for #SUFC in the last quarter of 2016. The prince says after checking what he could, he has been able to establish that he raised the money through U.S & Saudi shares

Yesterday was a national holiday in Saudi Arabia for Eid, so the prince didn't have the same access to his bank records overnight that he normally would, the court has been told.
#twitterblades #sufc

Mr Downes asked Prince Abdullah: "You were looking at another club [in addition to #sufc] in April 2013." The prince replied by saying he was 'interested to buy clubs' and believed that at that time he was interested in Charlton F.C. He said he has also looked at West Ham.

Prince Abdullah is being asked about his net worth at the time of his investment in #sufc in 2013. The prince has agreed that he had around £160million in shares from the Saudi Paper Company and between £40million & £60million in real estate holdings.
#twitterblades #sufc

And in a weird/meta development, one of my Tweets from yesterday in which I reported on Prince Abdullah's net worth as being $200million in 2013 after clarifying the figure with his team, has just been read to the court in evidence.
#twitterblades #sufc

Prince Abdullah is now being asked about the extent to which the value of his shares in the Saudi Paper Company had plummeted by 2016. The court has been told that they had lost about half of the $160million they were worth in 2013 by that time, so $80million
#twitterblades

Under continued questioning about his shares and finances in 2013, the prince said the information would be available through 'public records'. Mr Downes replied: "I have to do it in this way. We have sought an outline of your finances but it has been vigorously objected to."

The suggestion that Prince Abdullah, and his legal team, have vigorously objected to an outline of his finances being granted has been refuted by the Prince's barrister, Andreas Gledhill QC who said that disclosure for that period of time (2013) has not been sought.
#sufc

Back on to the subject of the relationship between Prince Abdullah & Dr Rakan now. Mr Downes is asking the prince whether he told Dr Rakan the following about #SUFC in 2013: the fact it is 'the oldest United' & his target of getting Blades into the Premier League within five yrs.

On to the question they've been skirting around for a while.
"Can you remember when Dr Rakan mentioned the name Bin Laden to you," asked Mr Downes.
Prince Abdullah replied: "Before Dubai."
Mr Downes: "You think it was 2016?"
Prince Abdullah: "Bin Laden was one of the names.

Mr Downes is now asking Prince Abdullah whether when the name Bin Laden was mentioned that he was of the belief that they would be a potential investor, along with Dr Rakan's Sela Sport.
"I wished Rakan would be the investor," said the Prince.
#twitterblades #sufc

When asked about whether he thought Sela Sport would be investing in his team, Prince Abdullah said he thinks his team were 'confused' about what role Sela would be playing.
"I knew they were talking to people; I knew they were talking to one of the Bin Laden group," he said

Prince Abdullah has just said that he believes that he was informed by Dr Rakan during a meeting believed to have taken part on December 21, 2016 that a member of the Bin Laden family would be an investor.
#twitterblades #sufc

The court has just been told that Prince Abdullah met with Saleh Bin Laden at his home on December 30, 2016 to discuss him investing in #SUFC The prince says that Mr Bin Laden's sons and Dr Rakan were also present.
#twitterblades #sufc

Mr Downes said: "What do you remember of the meeting [with Saleh Bin Laden]?"
Prince Abdullah replied: "I told him this is a very good opportunity, if I didn't think so I would have sold him some of my shares...
#twitterblades #sufc

...I told him [Saleh Bin Laden] about English football, about Sheffield, about the property of the club. I told him about the academy. I said the academy could be moved out of Sheffield and the land could be used for housing and property. I was trying my best to convince him."

Mr Downes asked Prince Abdullah whether he asked Saleh Bin Laden about a £3million payment that was on the table as part of a deal discussed at the aforementioned Dubai meeting in July 2017. The prince replied saying he did not think it was discussed at this time
#twitterblades

Mr Downes asked him 'what happened' between the first meeting with Bin Laden in December 2016 and the July 2017 meeting in Dubai; because an offer from the Bin Laden family to invest £3m was discussed at the latter.
#twitterblades #sufc

Following a number of questions, the prince has now agreed that he 'probably' discussed the £3million investment with Saleh Bin Laden during the December 2016 meeting, but maintains that he can't remember doing so.
#twitterblades #sufc

That's the end of a fairly eventful morning session at the High Court. Back in from 2pm for more of the same.

Court has just started again now. Prince Abdullah is being asked whether he has an electronic diary (because one has not been submitted to the court). The prince said he certainly doesn't have one, but he doesn't know about his office.
#twitterblades #sufc

Mr Downes replied: "So if I wanted to make an appointment with you in three weeks time what would your assistant check [to see if you are available]?"
The prince said: "I'm not sure, I can ask him if you want."
#twitterblades #sufc

Mr Downes is asking Prince Abdullah about what was discussed about the repayment of the £3m loan from the Bin Laden family at the meeting in Dubai in 2017 with Kevin McCabe and others.
The prince said: "I told them you will probably never have to repay this loan, they will...

...probably become partners or Saleh [Bin Laden] will bring a sponsorship deal to repay the loan."
Prince Abdullah has said that another option would have been for the loan to be repaid through the conversion of the money into #SUFC shares.
#twitterblades

Mr Downes said that repayment through #sufc shares is not something that either Kevin McCabe or Scott McCabe recalled during their evidence about the Dubai meeting. He said Mr Gledhill did not ask the McCabes about it either, and suggested Prince Abdullah came up with it today.

Mr Downes has told the court that while the McCabes accept the name 'Bin Laden' was mentioned during the Dubai meeting, they were under impression that Dr Rakan was the investor.
#twitterblades #sufc

Prince Abdullah replied: "Because I had just come back from the meeting with the Bin Ladens I believed they were the principal investor."
#twitterblades #sufc

Prince Abdullah has been asked a number of times how much influence he believes Dr Rakan had over Saleh Bin Laden. The Prince said 'they're friends' and has also told the court he preferred to communicate with Bin Laden through Rakan because he 'only met him [Bin Laden] once'.