Golf war! Saudi's Newcastle ownership threatened after LIV court ruling

Robin Bairner

2 Mar 2023 06:00 CST
2 min read

Newcastle United’s ownership from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) has come under fresh scrutiny following a court case in the USA regarding the controversial LIV Golf Tour.

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The Premier League has been called upon to look into Newcastle’s ownership once again after a controversial October 2021 decision to rule that PIF was not affiliated with the Saudi Arabian government.

That judgement has been thrown into disrepute after PIF argued in the US courts that IS connected with the ruling authorities in the Arab state and, therefore, cannot provide testimony in the American courts.

This comes less than 18 months after the Premier League gave the green light for PIF to takeover Newcastle after receiving “legally binding assurances” that the government did not control the club.

However, in a bitter court battle in the USA between the LIV Tour and the PGA, the Gulf investment fund argued exactly the opposite.

LIV lawyers said: “PIF and His Excellency Yasir al-Rumayyan are not ordinary third parties subject to basic discovery relevance standards.

“They are a sovereign instrumentality of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a sitting minister of the Saudi government.

“Thus they cannot be compelled to provide testimony and documents in a US proceeding.”

Although PIF failed in their argument that the Saudis must give testimony in the LIV Tour case, the very fact that they argued that they are a government organisation has sparked anger from Premier League owners.

“This looks like a complete reversal of the position we were told was the reason the deal was approved,” one owner told The Sun.

“Surely the Premier League has to get involved here and look at this issue again.”