Late Oman Sultan Qaboos named in Credit Suisse leaks

Late Oman ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al-Said has been named in a huge data leak on Sunday with a Swiss account containing millions of dollars.

The revelations were part of a data leak on 18,000 accounts held in Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-largest bank, and revealed by a cross-border media investigation on Sunday.

Dubbed "Suisse Secrets", the investigation was coordinated by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and involved nearly 50 outlets across the world.

It revealed the colossal personal fortunes amassed by several leaders in the Arab world, including Jordan's King Abdullah, the sons of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and several spy chiefs in Arab countries.

Figures linked to the Mubarak regime deposited hundreds of millions of dollars in Swiss accounts, while millions of Egyptians lived in abject poverty.

The Jordan king also presided over a country reliant on foreign aid while millions of dollars appear to have been sent to the Credit Suisse account.

The leaks also named Sultan Qaboos, ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state Oman from 1970 to 2020 reporting that he had stored over 177 million Swiss francs ($194 million) in a personal bank account at Credit Suisse, in addition to around 60 million CHF ($66 million) in a corporate account.

The first account was opened months after the sultan's accession to power in 1970. He was the region's longest-serving leader at the time of his death and was credited with modernising Oman, a small Gulf state that built its prosperity on oil revenues.

Yet, between 2011 and 2012, at least 35 human rights defenders were allegedly tortured and denied legal due process after large-scale protests rocked the country.

Since 2014, Oman and other Gulf states have been hit hard by falling crude prices and have witnessed rare public unrest caused by growing economic instability and demands for jobs.