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Former prime minister Jaber Al-Mubarak was found guilty on 5 October by the Court of Ministers of complicity in the Army Fund fraud case. A sentence is due to be announced in November, but Al-Mubarak is expected to appeal against the verdict in the Court of Ministers’ first major trial.

Investment minister Khalid Bin Abdelaziz Al-Falih went on a brief tour of European and central Asian countries in late September in an effort to drum up interest in the Saudi economy.

Rahbar (Supreme Leader) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has continued to reshuffle the senior leadership of the armed forces, as Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force commander Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh was promoted to Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces (Iriaf) deputy chief of staff and Brigadier General Pilot Hamid Vahedi was named the Iriaf’s new commander.

Making itself ever so useful, Qatar continues to act as an important bridge between its western allies and both the new hardline government of President Ebrahim Raisi in Iran and Afghanistan’s Taliban, in a process in which foreign affairs minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani (MBA) is playing an increasingly prominent role.

Petrochemicals sector officials and executives have been given jail terms of between five and 20 years for their role in a $7.9bn embezzlement case. Six former officials at Petrochemical Commercial Company – named in media reports as chief executive Reza Hamzeh-Lou, assistant chief executive Abbas Samimi Naeb, commercial director Mohsen Ahmadian, board members Alireza Alaei Rahmani and Mostafa Tehrani, and Marjan Shaykh-ol-Eslami – were sentenced to 20 years and 74 lashes and will have to repay the money they received.

A provincial governor, a judge, prison and court officials and officers in the Ministry of Interior, Civil Defence and the police force are among the unnamed individuals sentenced during the latest round of anti-graft cases at the Riyadh Criminal Court, according to the latest monthly statistics by the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha).

Having built up a list of local construction firms working on the giga-projects, GSN has analysed the shareholding records for several contractors, using data provided by Diligencia in a partnership to help sharpen understanding of those involved. It shows that the companies most heavily involved are often decades old, with the exception of Saudi Real Estate Infrastructure Company (Binyah). They are mainly in private hands (Red Sea International is an exception) and often held by generations of the same family.

Almabani General Contractors is working with Nesma on the airside infrastructure works for the Red Sea International airport, under a 2020 contract.

El Seif Group, established in the 1950s by the current chairman’s father, has a facilities management contract from The Red Sea Development Company for its project’s 1.5km2 coastal village.

Baha governor Prince Hussam Bin Saud Bin Abdelaziz’s appeal against a bankruptcy judgement obtained against him by Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) will return to the High Court in London this summer.

The Covid-19 pandemic has put huge pressure on government finances, but Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s favoured mega-projects have continued nevertheless, underpinned by PIF funding to offset the lack of foreign investment. Research by GSN, supported by data provided by Diligencia, shows the bulk of contracts have gone to some of the kingdom’s most long-established companies.

Prominent dissident UAE human rights activist Alaa Al-Siddiq died when the car she was travelling in collided with another vehicle at a road junction in Oxfordshire, UK on 19 June; she had been out celebrating her 33rd birthday with friends. Al-Siddiq was executive director of the UK-based ALQST, which campaigns for human rights in the UAE and the wider region. 

Saudi minister of state and National Security Advisor Dr Musaid Bin Mohammed Al-Aiban sat in on a 2017 meeting with then premier Haidar Al-Abadi and was present again at last November’s meeting between Prime Minister Al-Kadhimi and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS).

Shopping and leisure developer Majid Al-Futtaim has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Yellow Door Energy for the supply of up to 6.2MW of solar power.

Tribes play an important role in Kuwaiti political life – not least because the largest of them are generally pro-opposition. However their influence is not always readily apparent to outside observers. The tribes are spread around the country with no real geographic focus and most are a mix of Sunni and Shia. The largest is the Al-Awazem, whose prominent members include the recently ousted National Assembly (parliament) member Bader Dahome.