Courtesy Desert X AlUla
Afalula, the French agency contracted to help Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) develop the desert region of AlUla into an arts destination, faces an internal audit, Le Monde reported last week.
The news comes amidst a moment of uncertainty for the unprecedented cultural project. In January, Amr al-Madani, the former chief executive officer of the RCU, was arrested on charges of “abuse of authority and money laundering“ while in his role prior to leading AlUla. The 41-year-old al-Madani allegedly used his position to gain more than $50 million (46.2 million euros) from contracts given from King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, a scientific research agency, for the company he co-owned. He formally left the company in 2017 to join AlUla.
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Jean-Yves Le Drian, the former French foreign minister who took leadership of Afalula last July, ordered an internal audit of Afalula “around the same time that Saudi Arabia was monitoring” al-Madani, per Le Monde’s investigation. The audit was ordered at the end of 2023
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