An investigation has revealed how the group has raised close to a million pounds since 2007, using the money to lobby for a stronger relationship with Saudi Arabia, as well as arrange delegations to other parts of the Arab world.” …

… an exclusive MEMO investigation has revealed that nearly all of the CMEC’s financial backers have strong business interests in Saudi Arabia and its smaller Gulf allies, ranging from defence to manufacturing to energy resources. This suggests that the support by the CMEC for an unconditional relationship with Saudi Arabia could be driven by donor preferences, something that is denied by officials. …

… By far the most generous current backer of the Conservative Middle East Council, according to Electoral Commission records, is David Rowland, a controversial British business tycoon, political financier and Monaco tax exile. Rowland has been involved closely in helping to secure multi-billion pound defence deals between British firms and the Saudi Arabian government; he has given the CMEC nearly £350,000 since 2010. In 2011, Rowland offered his private jets to Prince Andrew for free, as the member of the British royal family visited Saudi Arabia to help secure deals for BAE Systems.

The investigation also revealed that in June 2015, Rosemary Said, the wife of Syrian-Saudi businessman Wafic Said, gave CMEC £20,000; back in 2008, the donation was much more substantial, at £100,000. Wafic Said, who was banned from making donations to Westminster political parties as he does not hold British citizenship, is reported to have played a key role as a “fixer” in arranging the controversial Al-Yamamah deals between BAE Systems and the Saudi Arabian government, using his extensive network of contacts within the kingdom. Records show that alongside channelling funds to the CMEC through his wife Rosemary, Wafic’s son Khalid, has also given £12,500 to the organisation. …

… Energy boss Abdul Majid Jafar is also a donor to the CMEC, giving the group £15,000 in January 2014. His company, Crescent Petroleum, is the oldest of its type in the Middle East, and has extensive interests in the UAE, Bahrain and Iraq, with a smaller footprint in Saudi Arabia.

The investigation has also revealed that a construction firm called International Hospitals Group has donated £40,000 to the CMEC in the past two years. The company has secured several multi-million pound contracts with the government of Saudi Arabia, and received as a result “various letters of acknowledgement [i.e. references]… from senior Royal Princes” within the House of Saud, with which the company enjoys a strong business relationship.

A former funder of the lobby group is Pierre Rolin, a financier who previously provided investment management services to a $1bn American property empire owned by Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Fahd, a prominent royal in the House of Saud. Details of the extent of this portfolio were revealed in 2012 by investigative journalist Seth Hettena. However, Rolin stopped donating to the CMEC in 2009, and shortly afterwards it was revealed that his financial advisory business to the Saudi prince had collapsed.

The MEMO investigation also showed that the CMEC received an £18,000 donation from the London-based PR firm Bell Pottinger, which has represented Saudi Arabia in a public affairs and advocacy role. Its other clients have included the Bahrain government; the company declined to comment when contacted by MEMO, although a spokesperson for the CMEC said that the donation had been made because Bell Pottinger “supported the aims of the organisation at the time.”

The Director of the Conservative Middle East Council, Leo Docherty, told MEMO that donations (and thus donors) had not influenced decision-making within the group. “No donor has given us conditions,” he insisted, “but any big business person in the Middle East has strong interests in Saudi Arabia. We see ourselves as making the case for a constructive relationship, but we acknowledge it’s not perfect.”