NatWest chairman ‘deeply regrets’ role at PetroSaudi

NatWest chairman Rick Haythornthwaite has expressed his “regret and sadness” over his £200,000-a-year role at a company involved in a $1.8 billion fraud against Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Breaking his silence over his part-time position at PetroSaudi, Haythornthwaite, 67, said he had taken on the contract for the nascent oil company in “good faith” and would never have got involved had he known that two directors would become embroiled in the embezzlement from the 1MDB fund.
He has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but his role at PetroSaudi has been subject to fresh questions since the conviction last month of its former executives Tarek Obaid and Patrick Mahony, in what was described by a Swiss prosecutor as the “scam of the century”.
“I deeply regret my association with the organisation,” said Haythornthwaite, who was selected as chairman of NatWest a year ago and took over from Sir Howard Davies at the start of this year.
He took on the PetroSaudi role in 2008 and remained until early 2016 after allegations about the fraud at 1MDB had started to circulate. His contract stated that he worked two and a half days a week and that he also would receive two £1 million bonuses.
“I entered the role in good faith to help build a legitimate UK subsidiary oil operation, and it is a source of profound disappointment that, at some point unknown, the two directors embarked on a path of serious misconduct at the parent company level,” he said.
“The many years of investigation have shown they were highly sophisticated at hiding the truth, and with the benefit of hindsight, I would not have got involved with this organisation. Besides the egregious breach of trust at the centre of this matter, I am left with a feeling of sadness for the impact that these crimes have had on many others,” he added.
Obaid and Mahony face jail sentences after being found to have helped steal millions of pounds from the fund and use the proceeds to enjoy lavish lifestyles. They are appealing against their convictions.
Since being named as the chairman of NatWest, Haythornthwaite has faced scrutiny over his role at PetroSaudi and why he initially brushed away questions from an investigative reporter, Clare Rewcastle Brown, about her findings in late 2015 of potential financial wrongdoing by the firm.
Documents have also shown that there were discussions about using ways to avoid paying personal tax on the bonuses he earned at PetroSaudi, although it is understood these were not acted upon.
The PetroSaudi role was one of a number held by Haythornthwaite at the time. He was chair of the international payments service Mastercard (2006 to 2020), Network Rail (2009 to 2012) and FTSE 100 energy company Centrica (2014 to 2019). A geology graduate from Oxford University, he spent his executive career at BP, Premier Oil, the Blue Circle cement group and engineering company Invensys.
He also chairs the FTSE 250 online grocer Ocado, sits on the board of the AA and is a senior advisory partner at banking business Moelis. He took over from Davies when NatWest was scrambling to restore its reputation following the departure of Dame Alison Rose as chief executive. She left after she admitted discussing the bank details of Nigel Farage, who is now an MP, with a BBC journalist.