Word: alireza
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Dates: during 1954-1954
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Services Rendered. In the deposition, which was accompanied by photostats of documents bearing on the deal, Katapodis charged that $350,000 had been given to Mohamed Abdullah Alireza, Saudi Arabia's Minister of State (now Minister of Commerce), for his services in getting the contract signed. Alireza, the deposition claimed, also got another $280,000 intended for the Minister of Finance for exempting Onassis' shipping company from taxes. Another $200,000 was reported to have gone to other palace officials...
...addition to these outright payments, said Katapodis, Minister of State Alireza would get a royalty income of sixpence per ton on oil shipped for the duration of the 30-year pact. His guaranteed minimum: $140,000 a year. He would also be sole agent for all Onassis ships clearing Saudi Arabian ports, collecting a fixed fee of $280 a vessel. Should Alireza die before the agreement expires, the deposition claimed, the money will go to his heirs. When Saudi Arabian officials wanted more money, said the deposition, Onassis did not balk: "Onassis told me ... he would play an important role...
From an Onassis associate in Cairo came another denial of the whole business. Ali Alireza, brother and business partner of Minister of Commerce Mohamed Abdullah and a key figure in the negotiations, said: "I can swear no such payments were made . . . Mr. Onassis made his offer directly to His Majesty's government ... So whom would he bribe, or why? Suppose he bribed two, even three men. The agreement still needed the Cabinet's unanimous consent . . . Certainly Onassis couldn't bribe men like these with a million dollars...