Saudi prince loses lawsuit over Gaddafi jet sale

An influential Saudi prince was branded a "completely unreliable" witness by a High Court judge on Wednesday in a lawsuit over unpaid commission on the sale of one of his aircraft to Colonel Muammer Gaddafi.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire investor who is one of the world's richest men, had contested the case brought by the Jordanian businesswoman Daad Sharab, who claimed the prince failed to pay her $10m commission for her role in brokering the $120m sale of the private jet to the former Libyan leader.

Mr Justice Peter Smith on Wednesday found in favour of Ms Sharab and ordered the Saudi prince to pay her $10m.

This ruling followed a trial last month in which the prince gave evidence for a number of days.

The judge said in his ruling that he preferred Ms Sharab's account of events and found her to be an "impressive witness".

He said of the Saudi prince: "I found his evidence confusing, regularly changing on occasions and unreliable."

In relation to the prince's evidence over letters sent to Gaddafi, Mr Justice Smith noted: "He virtually admitted that he had said things that were untruthful in the letters."

During the trial Ms Sharab's barrister had accused the prince of being "untruthful" in a letter to Gaddafi where the prince had claimed he originally bought the plane for $135m when the actual cost was $95m.

The judge said of Prince Alwaleed: "It is not necessary for me to determine that he was telling lies in the witness box. He came close to admitting it as the extract of his cross examination on the 18 May 2002 letter shows."

The judge added in his ruling that as Prince Alwaleed "is a man who is clearly prepared to write false letters it shows I cannot accept his assertion that he never tells lies in contracts and written documents. All of those lead inexorably and inevitably to support a conclusion that his evidence is completely unreliable. It reinforces the poor impression he gave in the witness box in contrast to Mrs Sharab."

Prince Alwaleed, who is an significant investor in Citigroup, had said in the trial that the Gaddafi letter was a "tactic used with the Libyans".

"You might call it a lie, I call it a tactic," he had told the court in evidence, adding that dealing with the Libyans was "not straightforward".

Prince Alwaleed had also told the court he wanted to put "maximum pressure" on Gaddafi to pay up, adding: "You have to recognise we deal with a rogue state and we had to act in kind."

A spokesman said the prince will appeal against the ruling.

"Prince Alwaleed believes today's ruling is wrong and is not an accurate analysis of all of the evidence before the Court," the spokesman said.

In a statement Ms Sharab said: "Today's decision has reinforced my belief in the fairness and impartiality of the English courts. However it will be extremely disappointing if the prince fails to accept the decision of this court and yet again attempts to delay payment of the agreed fee of $10m."

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