US consulting firms accused of withholding information on Saudi ties

US consulting firms accused of withholding information on Saudi ties

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Four consulting firms, including McKinsey and BCG, have been accused of failing to comply with a US congressional subpoena of documents related to their work with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

The chief executives of the firms, which also include Teneo and the deal advisory business led by Michael Klein, have been summoned to explain themselves at a Senate committee hearing next week, as lawmakers step up a probe into Saudi Arabia’s use of “soft power” in the US.

The inquiry began as a result of an agreement by the Saudi Public Investment Fund to take a stake in golf’s US-based PGA Tour, but has grown into a broader examination of the PIF’s investments in the US.

“The records sought by these subpoenas are critical to the ongoing inquiry into efforts by authoritarian governments, like Saudi Arabia, to deploy soft power or use other influence strategies inside the United States, including the PIF’s use of investments in US entities and cultural institutions to exert influence,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, chair of the permanent subcommittee on investigations on Thursday.

The PIF has sued the four consulting firms in Saudi Arabia