5th April 2004


Dear Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz

"Economic Development in Saudi Arabia" by Rodney Wilson with Abdullah Al-Salamah, Monica Malik and Ahmed Al-Rajhi ("the Book")

I refer to the letter sent on your behalf by Cherif Sedky setting out your complaints about the Book.

I am very sorry for any distress caused by the erroneous and defamatory references that appeared in the Book concerning you. I fully acknowledge, in the light of the material that you have brought to my attention, that the following allegations made in the Book are completely incorrect:

  1. You are not Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law. Osama bin Laden is not married to any of your sisters nor are you married to any of Osama bin Laden's sisters.
  2. You have not had any involvement or association with Osama bin Laden and/or the financing of Islamic militants or charities linked to Osama bin Laden. The Saudi police and Saudi intelligence services have never indicated formally or informally that you have been involved with charities or Islamic groups connected to Osama bin Laden.
  3. You were never stripped of your Saudi Arabian citizenship.
  4. You acquired Irish citizenship in 1990 through legal methods and there were no grounds for revoking the certificates of nationalisation (on which the passports were based).
  5. The changes that took place at the National Commercial Bank from 1997 onwards were made by you in order to facilitate the transfer of the bank from an unlimited private partnership to a joint stock company, with an initial public offering at some stage in the future. SAMA did not step in to urge major changes in the management and organisation of NCB.
In order that this matter may now be resolved and in full and final settlement of your complaints, I undertake as follows:
  1. That an erratum slip is inserted into all unsold copies of the Book pointing out that I had relied on source material that I now accept to be erroneous when writing the offending passages on page 64. I am wiling to cite a reference to the Bin Mahfouz family website on the erratum (www.binmahfouz.info) indicating that this is a reliable source of information for the interested reader. I am also willing, if the book is to be reprinted, that the text should be corrected in an agreed form. This also applies in relation to any subsequent editions of the Book. The proposed wording of the erratum slip is attached.
  2. I will not repeat such allegations or make any similar allegations about you in the future.
  3. I agree to advertise in the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Newsletter an apology and correction in the following form:
"Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz: An apology by Rodney Wilson and Routledge Curzon

In January 2004, Rodney Wilson and RoutledgeCurzon published a book entitled "Economic Development in Saudi Arabia", in which it was wrongly alleged that Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz was Osama Bin Laden's brother in law. It was further wrongly suggested that he was involved with the financing of Islamic militants and charities linked to Osama Bin Laden. It erroneously asserted that he was stripped of his Saudi Arabian citizenship. It also wrongly alleged that SAMA urged major changes at the National Commercial Bank as a result of Sheikh Khalid's management of the bank.

Rodney Wilson and RoutledgeCurzon accept that there is no truth whatsoever in any of these serious and highly defamatory allegations, which were made on the basis of erroneous source material. Sheikh Khalid has never had any connection with Osama Bin Laden and has never supported terrorism in any way. Rodney Wilson and RoutledgeCurzon accept that Sheikh Khalid and his family abhor terrorism in all of its forms and manifestations and apologise to Sheikh Khalid for the grave distress and embarrassment that they caused".

I apologise again for the distress the Book has caused you and your family and am happy to acknowledge that the Bin Mahfouz family condemns terrorism in all of its forms and manifestations.

Yours sincerely Rodney Wilson
Professor of Economics

Erratum slip:
Errata page 64

The author and the publishers fully acknowledge that the following allegations concerning Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz, which were made on the basis of erroneous source material, are completely incorrect:
  1. Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz is not Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law. Osama bin Laden is not married to any of Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz's sisters nor is Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz married to any of Osama bin Laden's sisters.
  2. Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz has not had any involvement or association with Osama bin Laden and/or the financing of Islamic militants or charities linked to Osama bin Laden. The Saudi police and Saudi intelligence services have never indicated formally or informally that Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz has been involved with charities or Islamic groups connected to Osama bin Laden.
  3. Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz was never stripped of his Saudi Arabian citizenship.
  4. Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz acquired Irish citizenship in 1990 through legal methods and there were no grounds for revoking the certificates of nationalisation (on which the passports were based).
  5. The changes that took place at the National Commercial Bank from 1997 onwards were made by Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz in order to facilitate the transfer of the bank from an unlimited private partnership to a joint stock company, with an initial public offering at some stage in the future. SAMA did not step in to urge major changes in the management and organisation of NCB.
The Bin Mahfouz family website (www.binmahfouz.info) provides a reliable source of information for the interested reader.

Close window