Jordanian royal palace: the King owns properties and it is not a secret
October 4, 2021, 11:46 am

Jordanian royal palace: the King owns properties and it is not a secret

Jordan's King-Shutterstock

The Jordanian royal palace said, Jordan's King Abdullah owns properties in the United States and Britain and this was not a secret, adding privacy and security reasons were behind not disclosing it.

Citing Reuters, the Jerusalem Post reported that in the massive leak of "Pandora Papers" on Sunday, King Abdullah, a close ally of the United States, was alleged to have used offshore accounts to spend more than $100 million on luxury homes in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The palace statement said: "It is no secret that His Majesty owns a number of apartments and residences in the United States and the United Kingdom. This is not unusual nor improper."

The dump of millions of records that tied world leaders to secret stores of wealth came five years after came after the "Panama Papers" exposed how money was hidden by the wealthy in ways that law enforcement agencies could not detect.

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The Jordanian palace said these properties were used during official visits and some of these are used during private visits.

It said, security reasons were behind not disclosing the foreign properties which were brought from the monarch's private income and not state funds.

The statement said: "The cost of these properties and all related expenditures have been personally funded by His Majesty. None of these expenses have been funded by the state budget or treasury."

Source: Jerusalempost

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.