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June 10, 2012
National Yemen
BY NY Staff
In response a recently-published list of names
of around 2,700 Yemeni sheikhs , military leaders and political figures who
receive large monthly sums of money from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense,
members of parliament called for a serious investigation into the matter.
During Saturday’s parliament session, MPs wondered aloud how influential Yemeni
political figures and sheikhs could possibly justify receiving large amounts of
money from Saudi Arabia.
The list of names was accompanied by the sums
of money the individuals and political parties reportedly receive on a monthly
basis, and was published by Al-Sharie’a newspaper. The published report stated
that all together, such payments total SR 56 million per month.
The list is topped by the name of former
president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who reportedly received SR 40 million per month.
SR 3 million has reportedly found its way to both Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ahmar and
Major General Ali Mohsen on a monthly basis. In addition, the report claimed
that Mohsen received an additional yearly payment of SR 10 million for leading
forces against Yemeni Shi’ites.
According to the report, Hussien Al-Ahmar has
SR 200,000 SR monthly and an additional five million Saudi riyals per year.
Reported payments aren’t limited to individual
figures, but are also extend to political parties such as Al-Islah, which was
reported to have received three million riyals on a monthly basis. In response,
Islah representatives contested the report’s veracity, and added that party
members were astonished to see that something so baseless had been published.
Meanwhile, Abdulrahman Al-Jafri, president of
the Ray League political party, has reportedly been provided with SR 160,000 a
month.
The list included former presidents such as Ali
Nasser Mohammed, who has reportedly been paid SR 120,000 per month; according
to the list, Haidar Al-Attas, Haitham Qassim Taher and Mohmmed Ali have each
reportedly been paid SR 10,000 per month.
The names and sums on the list have elicited a
great deal of response. Many Yemenis were shocked to see particular individuals
on the list, such as the brother and son of late president Ibrahim Al-Hamdi.
The published list also included the names of a
number of journalists, diplomats, officials from various parts of Yemen,
thereby indicating a widescale dependency on foreign money on the part of a
large portion of Yemen’s political leaders and those that surround them.
Meanwhile, the press office belonging to former
president Saleh has refuted the published report, which lists him at the top of
the list in terms of the amount of money received from Saudi Arabia on a
monthly basis. A statement released by Saleh’s office reads “Neither he, his
father nor his grandfather received any payments from the Saudi government,
which indicates that Sheikh Al-Ahmar and his sons are the ones taking money
from KSA.”
A further denial came from representatives of
the family of late president Ibrahim Al-Hamdi. A recently-issued statement said
that no members of the Al-Hamdi family had received any amount of money from
any party. Abdul-Rahman Al-Hamdi said that what had been published amounted to
lies and fabrications that “serve only a few people and which cannot mar the
reputable history of the Al-Hamdi name.”
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