Saudi Arabia: Bugshan under scrutiny

The involvement of Saudi businessman Khalid Ali Bugshan in a major French political corruption case is not expected to affect the wider family businesses. Bugshan is a scion of the Hadramauti family whose parent company is the long-established Abdullah Said Bugshan Group (ASB), and which remains prominent both among the Jeddah business community and in Yemen.The case stems from an investigation into allegations that Nicolas Sarkozy received money from the late Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi to finance his 2007 election campaign, and is politically explosive in France at a time when Sarkozy has returned to head the centre-right party UMP (Union pour un Movement Populaire), which emerged on top in 29 March local elections.