GOP candidate acknowledges consulting for Saudi Arabia’s controversial MBS

Controversial Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has become an issue in a 2022 gubernatorial campaign.

"Faced with questions about a meeting with an executive in charge of a highly scrutinized project in Saudi Arabia, gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski for the first time has acknowledged his work as a consultant related to the plan, which is funded by a regime whose human rights record has come under increasing criticism," Hearst Newspaper's CT Insider reported.

The publication reports it obtained documents of the GOP candidate meeting with a top executive at a planned city financed by a government fund.

"In an interview conducted with CT Insider after his campaign was told of the documents, Stefanowski defended his involvement in the green-energy project since 2019, emphasizing that he did not work directly with the Saudi government or the Saudi state-run investment fund," CT Insider reported. "He’s still consulting on the project, he said, but has “scaled down” his involvement while running for governor."

Stefanowski is challenging Democratic Party incumbent Ned Lamont.

"According to the documents obtained by CT Insider, Stefanowski met in London in November 2018 with someone from Saudi Arabia who Stefanowski identified as the director of NEOM, a “smart city” being built in the Saudi desert that is funded largely by the nation’s sovereign wealth fund. The meeting came just weeks after journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul," CT Insider reported. "Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman founded NEOM and chairs its board — the 'M' is an homage to his first name. About half the project’s initial funding comes from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund."

Gov. Lamont said he would have more to say on Thursday.

"It poses an awful lot of questions but I don't want to jump to any conclusions," Lamont said.

Read the full report.