Four U.S.-based companies ‘ordered to testify’ related to Saudis
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations plan to continue its inquiry into Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund at a hearing Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
According to a release from Blumenthal, the hearing will include representatives from four firms that have worked with the PIF – Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company, M. Klein and Company and Teneo.
“Executives from Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company, M. Klein & Company, and Teneo – all headquartered in the United States – have been ordered to testify regarding their companies’ compliance with a subpoena that was issued in November regarding their work on behalf of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund,” the release from Blumenthal read.
In July, the subcommittee held two hearings on a potential deal that would combine the Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf, which is owned by the PIF, under a new, for-profit entity called PGA Tour Enterprises. On Monday, senators sent a letter to PIF’s governor informing him “the subcommittee intends to continue to pursue its inquiry [into the potential deal].”
“The PIF consultants likely possess information relevant to this inquiry, and the subcommittee has issued a subpoena to each of the PIF consultants to obtain that information and relevant records,” the letter to PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan read.
The subcommittee requested representatives from each of the firms to appear for a hearing in December and provide “documents and information related to their work with the PIF.”
An attorney representing PIF sent a letter to Blumenthal earlier this month arguing that providing the documents the subcommittee requested would “violate lawful orders issued by the courts of Saudi Arabia.”
“Accepting the PIF consultants’ refusal to cooperate with this subcommittee would create a dangerous and unsupportable precedent — that American companies can shield commercial interactions with foreign governments that are directed towards the United States from oversight simply by choosing to have their contracts governed by foreign law,” Blumenthal said in Thursday’s release.