Daily Times

French authorities have rejected a request by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to visit the Louis XIV Palace which he bought for nearly $350 million a few years ago.

According to senior political sources in France, Bin Salman wanted to spend some time in his luxurious chateau on the outskirts of Paris, however, France had reservations.

Sources explained that Bin Salman’s visit will embarrass French President Emmanuel Macron who is going through a critical period before the public opinion due to the failure of his reform projects.

It was revealed that the Saudi crown prince’s visit will bring to  the fore his involvement in the assassination of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi officials have said the journalist was killed in a “rogue operation” by a team of agents sent to persuade him to return to the kingdom, while Turkish officials have said the agents acted on orders from the highest levels of the Saudi government.

In the latest development, a United Nations special rapporteur concluded that Khashoggi was “the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible”.

She also found there was “credible evidence” that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-level officials were individually liable.

The Saudi government, which denies the prince was involved, rejected the report.

Moreover, the issue of Saudi Arabia spying on a number of journalists, human rights activists and businessmen in the Arab world and the West is also still very present in the media.

Bin Salman bought the palace at a time when he was campaigning to reduce the kingdom’s dependence on oil revenues and cut government spending; the chateau was said to be the world’s most expensive home.

The crown prince is known for his extravagant purchases; in 2016 he bought a $500 million yacht and, a year later, was revealed to be behind a record breaking $450 million auction bid for Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi.