{{Short description|Turkish-origin Saudi government official and businessman (1929–1999)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Kamal Adham Portrait.jpg | office = Director General of Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah | monarch = King Faisal<br/>King Khalid | term_start = 1965 | term_end = 1979 | predecessor = | successor = Turki Al Faisal | birth_name = Kamal Ibrahim Adham | birth_date = 1929 | birth_place = Istanbul, Turkey | death_date = 29 October {{death year and age|1999|1929}} | death_place = Cairo, Egypt | spouse = Nadia Adham | parents = {{ubl|Ibrahim Adham (father) | Asia Adham (mother)}} | children = 4 | alma_mater = {{ubl|Victoria College|Cambridge University}} | awards = Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George }} '''Kamal Adham''' ({{langx|ar|كمال ابراهيم ادهم}}; 1929 – 29 October 1999) was a Saudi businessman and the director general of Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah from 1965 to 1979. He served as a royal counsellor to both King Faisal and King Khalid.[https://www.okaz.com.sa/specialized-corners/na/2029374]
==Early life and education== Kamal Adham was born in Istanbul in 1929.<ref name=kech12feb/><ref name=Cooley2002/> His father, Ibrahim Adham, was a police officer of Albanian origin.<ref name=kec2012>{{cite news|author=Joseph A. Kéchichian|title=Self-assurance in the face of military might|url=http://gulfnews.com/life-style/people/self-assurance-in-the-face-of-military-might-1.967216|access-date=21 July 2013|newspaper=Gulf News|date=20 January 2012|author-link=Joseph A. Kéchichian}}</ref> His mother, Asia, was Turkish.<ref name=kech12feb/> Adham had two half-siblings, Iffat bint Mohammad and Zaki bin Mohammad Al Thunayan, and a full-brother, Muzaffar.<ref name=kec2012/>
Adham went to Jeddah with his father when he was one year old.<ref name=kech12feb/><ref name=Cooley2002/> He was raised by King Faisal, spouse of his sister Iffat.<ref name=bae>{{cite news|title=BAE Files: Kamal Adham|newspaper=The Guardian|date=8 June 2007 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/08/bae49|access-date=12 May 2012|author=David Leigh|author2=Rob Evans}}</ref>
Adham studied at Victoria College in Alexandria and then at Trinity College, Cambridge.<ref name=tdt99/>
==Career== Kamal Adham joined the Saudi government as the chief of external intelligence agency in 1964.<ref name=tdt99>{{cite news|title=Obituary. Kamal Adham|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/752299724/?terms=kamal%20adham&match=1|access-date=19 August 2023 |work=The Daily Telegraph|date=11 November 1999|page=31}}</ref> King Faisal appointed him as head of Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah (later renamed General Intelligence Presidency (GIP)) in 1965, making him the first president of the agency.<ref>{{cite news|author=Dean Baquet|title=After Plea Bargain by Sheik, Question Is What He Knows|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/30/business/the-bcci-scandal-after-plea-bargain-by-sheik-question-is-what-he-knows.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|access-date=26 February 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=30 July 1992|archive-date=15 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615154235/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/30/business/the-bcci-scandal-after-plea-bargain-by-sheik-question-is-what-he-knows.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Prince Nawaf new intelligence chief|newspaper=Arab News|date=1 September 2001|url=http://www.arabnews.com/node/214954|access-date=6 April 2013}}</ref> Adham's tenure lasted for fourteen years until 19 January 1979 when he was dismissed<ref name=hear>{{cite book|title=Hearings, Reports and Prints of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (1789-1975)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Es81AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA3-PA68|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=68}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis|author=Gary Samuel Samore|title=Royal Family Politics in Saudi Arabia (1953-1982)|location=Harvard University|page=407|year=1984 |degree=PhD|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303295482|id={{ProQuest|303295482}}}}</ref> and replaced by Turki bin Faisal in the post.<ref name=bae/> Therefore, he also served as the head of the GIP during King Khalid's term.<ref name=efox/>
Adham served as royal counsellor to King Faisal and then, to King Khalid.<ref name=adhamcen/><ref>{{cite news|author=Nick Luddington |title=King Faisal's eight sons|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=j58gAAAAIBAJ&pg=1190,870999&dq=kamal+adham&hl=en|access-date=26 February 2013|newspaper=Lewiston Evening Journal|date=5 April 1975|agency=AP|location=Jeddah}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Nick Thimmesch |title=The Egyptian-Saudi peace axis|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cEhVAAAAIBAJ&pg=1985,575808&dq=kamal+adham&hl=en|access-date=26 February 2013|newspaper=The News-Dispatch|date=7 April 1977|location=Washington, DC}}</ref> Adham was among the close advisors to King Khalid from 1975 to 19 January 1979.<ref name=hear/>
thumb|left|200px|King Faisal with Anwar Sadat and Kamal Adham in Cairo in the early 1970s ===Activities as the GIP head=== Adham was very crucial in improving Saudi Arabia's relations with the United Kingdom which had become tense after the Buraimi oasis affair in 1955.<ref name=tdt99/> He had also significant effects in maintaining the relations with Egypt.<ref name=tdt99/> CIA financially supported Anwar Sadat, then vice president of Gamal Nasser, through Adham when Sadat had financial problems.<ref name=fas1992/> Adham was sent by King Faisal to meet Sadat in May 1971, shortly after he was sworn in as president.<ref name=Feiler2003/> Adham tried to persuade him to cooperate with the US.<ref name=tdt99/> In the meeting, Sadat stated that after the completion of the Israeli withdrawal from Egypt, he would expel the Soviet forces from Egypt.<ref name=Feiler2003/> He also assured that Adham could transmit his message to the US administration.<ref name=Feiler2003/> As a result of Adham's visit, Sadat expelled 22,000 Soviet military advisors from the country in 1972.<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituaries in the News|work=AP|date=30 October 1999|url=https://apnews.com/aa055e97f75f4958aed977c68e2bfbf7|access-date=26 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922024838/https://apnews.com/aa055e97f75f4958aed977c68e2bfbf7|location=Riyadh|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis|author=Salwa Sharawi Gomaa|title=Egyptian diplomacy in the seventies: a case study in leadership|page=50|degree=PhD|year=1986|id={{ProQuest|303523652}}|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303523652|location=University of Pittsburgh|isbn=979-8-206-43008-0}}</ref> Adham told his associates in 1972 that the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, would be removed.<ref name=dcbureau>{{cite news|title=The United States and Iran: The Secret History Part One: Carter and the Shah|access-date=7 April 2013|work=DC Bureau|url=http://www.dcbureau.org/20090727647/national-security-news-service/the-united-states-and-iran-the-secret-history-part-one-carter-and-the-shah.html|date=27 July 2009|author=Joseph Trento|author2=Susan Trento|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130330133934/http://www.dcbureau.org/20090727647/national-security-news-service/the-united-states-and-iran-the-secret-history-part-one-carter-and-the-shah.html|archive-date=30 March 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> His prediction was not taken into consideration or shared by advisors of the US president Nixon.<ref name=dcbureau/>
Adham acted as a liaison between the GIP, which reported to the king, and the US administration.<ref>{{cite news|title=The ghost of a Saudi billionaire haunts U.S. war on terror|url=http://www.unitedjerusalem.org/index2.asp?id=108968&Date=6/14/2002|access-date=7 April 2013|work=The United Jerusalem Foundation|date=13 June 2002}}</ref> Additionally he was the primary liaison of the CIA for the Middle East as a whole from the mid-1960s to 1979 when he left the GIP.<ref name=fas1992/> He fostered and maintained nascent ties with several Arab intelligence services, as many were slowly creating independent institutions to serve their respective governments. Adham closely worked with George H. W. Bush, who was appointed CIA director in 1976.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bush: Middle East ties deserve to be part of 2004 political debate|date=18 January 2004 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PlNWAAAAIBAJ&pg=3766,3968714&dq=kamal+adham&hl=en|access-date=26 February 2013|newspaper=Eugene Register Guard}}</ref><ref name=BeatyGwynne2004>{{cite book|author1=Jonathan Beaty|author2=Samuel C. Gwynne|title=The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M_vkgRD3QwwC&pg=PA275|year=2004|publisher=Beard Books|isbn=978-1-58798-146-3|page=275|location=Washington, DC}}</ref>
Adham signed the charter of the Safari Club, an anti-communist foreign policy initiative on behalf of Saudi Arabia that was proposed and realized by French intelligence chief Alexandre de Marenches in 1976.<ref name=Bronson2006>{{cite book|author=Rachel Bronson|title=Thicker than Oil: America's Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9u-DSqvzUQC&pg=PA132|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-974117-5|page=132|location=Oxford; New York}}</ref> The other participating countries of the Club were Egypt, Iran and Morocco.<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Dale Scott|title=The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America|page=105 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=op39ymd2um0C&pg=PA80|year=2007|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-92994-4 |location=Berkley and Los Angeles, CA}}</ref> The first meeting of the group was held in Saudi Arabia in 1976.<ref name=Bronson2006/> Adham became a significant figure in the Club and worked for it for a long time.<ref name=Cooley2002/>
===Business activities=== Adham also had business activities, for which he used his connections with the House of Saud.<ref name=BeatyGwynne2004/> His business dealings began in 1957, long before his post as the head of the GIP.<ref name=Cooley2002/>
He founded the Kamal Adham Group in Saudi Arabia, which became one of the biggest companies in the country.<ref name=arab18feb>{{cite news |author=Saud Al Tuwaim|title=Mishaal gets control of Adham Group|url=http://www.arabnews.com/node/213191|access-date=26 February 2013 |newspaper=Arab News|date=18 February 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Kamal Adham Group|url=http://www.zawya.com/middle-east/company/profile/1001898/Adham_Group/|access-date=26 February 2013|work=Zawya|date=27 August 2007}}</ref> Raymond Close, a former CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia, left CIA and began to work for Adham in 1977 when he was the head of the GIP.<ref name=Cooley2002>{{cite book|author=John K. Cooley|title=Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5C0R6qxjpgC&pg=PA91|page=91 |year=2002|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=978-0-7453-1917-9|author-link=John Cooley}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Dangerous Times |url=http://www.nysun.com/editorials/dangerous-times/44274/|access-date=26 February 2013|newspaper=The New York Sun|date=29 November 2006}}</ref> Adham was also one of the major shareholders of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).<ref>{{cite journal |author=Christopher Byron|title=The Senate look at BCCI|journal=New York Magazine|date=28 October 1991|pages=20–21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-kCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20}}</ref> In 1972, he met the founder of the BCCI, Agha Hasan Abedi.<ref name=Cooley2002/> The same year Adham founded a contracting firm, Almabani, in Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{cite web|author=Christopher Sell |title=Almabani General Contractors|url=http://www.almabani.co/Press_releases/2010/MEED_Press_Release_March_2010.pdf|work=Almabani|access-date=7 April 2013|format=Press release|date=17 March 2010|archive-date=2 January 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102201450/http://www.almabani.co/Press_releases/2010/MEED_Press_Release_March_2010.pdf}}</ref>
He was one of the early shareholders of the influential media company, Saudi Research and Marketing.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Jon B. Alterman|title=New Media New Politics?|journal=The Washington Institute|year=1998|volume=48|url=http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/PolicyPaper48.pdf|access-date=7 April 2013|archive-date=13 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513133813/http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/PolicyPaper48.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In addition, he had investments in Egypt, owning 4% of Delta Bank.<ref name=Feiler2003>{{cite book|author=Gil Feiler|title=Economic Relations Between Egypt and the Gulf Oil States, 1967-2000: Petro Wealth and Patterns of Influence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VILtesILJSQC&pg=PA77|year=2003 |publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1-903900-40-6|page=77|location=Brighton}}</ref> He also became a business associate of Anwar Sadat's spouse, Jihan Sadat, and other members of the Sadat family.<ref name=Cooley2002/> In 1978, Adham founded a construction company, Freyssinet, in Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{cite news|title=KSA's Big 25 list of construction companies|url=http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-21617-the-top-25-construction-companies-in-saudi-arabia/15/#.UWFq2JNSjm4|access-date=7 April 2013|work=Construction Weekly|date=31 March 2013}}</ref> Adham along with Adnan Khashoggi was one of the founders of the gold company, Barrick Gold Corporation that was established in 1983.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rachel Verdon|title=Murder by Madness 9/11: The Government & the Goon Squad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQrvfgXnG-UC&pg=PA319|year=2012|publisher=Rachel Verdon|isbn=978-1-4699-7022-6|page=319}}</ref>
In 2001, his son Mishaal was named as the chairman of the Kamal Adham Group.<ref name=arab18feb/>
===Controversy=== In 1961 Saudi oil minister Abdullah Tariki claimed on evidence that Adham, who was dealing with business at that time, got 2% of the profits from the Arabian Oil Company that had been cofounded by Saudi Arabia and Japan.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marius Vassiliou|authorlink= Marius Vassiliou|title=The A to Z of the Petroleum Industry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BdNjTbcB__0C&pg=PA496|year=2009|publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc.|isbn=978-0-8108-7066-6|page=496|location=Lanham, MD; Toronto; Plymouth}}</ref> On 23 January 1962 the ministry reported that the secret agreement between Adham and the Arabian Oil Company had been cancelled.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Chronology December 16, 1961-March 15, 1962|journal=The Middle East Journal|date=Spring 1962|volume=16|issue=2|page=206|jstor=4323471}}</ref> As a result of this clash Tariki was removed from the office in March 1962.<ref>{{cite book|author=Steffen Hertog|title=Princes, Brokers, and Bureaucrats: Oil and the State in Saudi Arabia|year=2010|publisher=Cornell University Press|page=74|jstor=10.7591/j.ctt7zbkq.10|isbn=9780801447815}}</ref>
Adham involved in the huge BCCI scandal at the beginning of the 1990s.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Adham The Untouchable|journal=New York Magazine |date=7 October 1991|pages=25–26|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ugCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26}}</ref> The US prosecutors accused him of playing a key role in the secret and illegal takeover of First American bank by BCCI.<ref name=fas1992>{{cite journal|title=BCCI, the CIA and foreign intelligence|journal=Federation of American Scientists|year=1992|url=http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Dean Baquet|title=Saudis Pay $225 Million To Settle a B.C.C.I. Case|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/28/business/saudis-pay-225-million-to-settle-a-bcci-case.html|access-date=26 February 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=28 December 1993}}</ref> Adham agreed to pay a staggering amount of $105 million fine in return for a reduced sentence.<ref name=Effros1997>{{cite book|editor=Robert C. Effros|title=Current Legal Issues Affecting Central Banks|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6hHRlUOMc1oC&pg=PA382|year=1997|volume=4 |publisher=International Monetary Fund|isbn=978-1-55775-503-2|page=382|location=Washington, DC|author1=Thomas C. Baxter, Jr.|author2=Jet Joseph de Saram|chapter=BCCI: The Lessons for Banking Supervision}}</ref><ref name=bae/> As a result of this incident, Adham was barred from the finance sector.<ref name=Effros1997/>
==Personal life and death== Kamal Adham wed in 1957 and fathered four children, three sons and a daughter.<ref name=ttim99>{{cite news|title=Kamal Adham|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0502637895/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=9f09a90e|access-date=19 August 2023|work=The Times|issue=66684|date=29 November 1999|page=21}}</ref> His wife, Nadia, was from the Samaqiyya family of Syrian and Egyptian origins.<ref name=ttim99/> One of Adham's mansions was in Marbella where other senior Saudi and Gulf royals have owned properties.<ref>{{cite web |author=Christopher Clover |date=22 January 2014 |title=Marbella in the 1970's: our first years |url=https://www.panoramamarbella.com/about/how-panorama-began-in-marbella |access-date=29 August 2024 |work=Panorama Marbella}}</ref>
Kamal Adham died of a heart attack in Cairo on 29 October 1999.<ref name=efox>{{cite news|title=Kamal Adham|access-date=26 February 2013|url=http://www.edwardfox.co.uk/adham.html|work=Edward Fox|archive-date=20 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820144030/https://www.edwardfox.co.uk/adham.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=adhamcen>{{cite news|title=Adham Center Founder Sheikh Kamal Adham Remembered|url=http://www.kpd-online.info/news/sheikh.htm|access-date=26 February 2013|work=Adham Center|date=15 December 1999}}</ref> He was 71.<ref>{{cite news|title=Kamal Adham, 71, an adviser to the late Saudi Kings Faisal|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1999-11-01-9911010310-story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102200250/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-11-01/news/9911010310_1_ballets-russes-king-faisal-adham|url-status=live|archive-date=2 January 2014|access-date=26 February 2013|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|date=1 November 1999}}</ref> His body was brought back to Saudi Arabia for burial.<ref>{{cite news|title=Saudi advisor to Kings dies|work=Associated Press News|date=30 October 1999|url=https://apnews.com/3a062374035143fb83762fe6f98891f3|access-date=7 April 2013|location=Riyadh}}</ref>
Adham was fluent in four languages, namely Arabic, Turkish, English, and French.<ref name=kech12feb>{{cite news|author=Joseph A. Kechichian|title=The man behind the scenes|newspaper=Gulf News |url=http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/the-man-behind-the-scenes-1.581564|access-date=26 February 2013|date=12 February 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Alexei Vassiliev|title=King Faisal: Personality, Faith and Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j0AhBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT280 |year=2013|publisher=Saqi|isbn=978-0-86356-761-2|page=280|author-link=Alexei Mikhailovich Vasiliev|location=London}}</ref>
==Awards and legacy== Adham was awarded the Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1967 when he was part of King Faisal's entourage in his state visit to the United Kingdom.<ref name=ttim99/>
The Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism was founded under the American University in Cairo in 1985. The center was financially supported by Kamal Adham who was a member of Board of Trustees of the University.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism|url=http://www.aucegypt.edu/gapp/kacj/Pages/Home.aspx|work=The American University in Cairo|access-date=12 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523230937/http://www.aucegypt.edu/GAPP/kacj/Pages/Home.aspx|archive-date=23 May 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Commons-inline}} {{Presidents of GIP|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adham, Kamal Ibrahim}} Category:20th-century Saudi Arabian businesspeople Category:1929 births Category:1999 deaths Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge Kamal Category:Directors of Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah Category:People of the Cold War Category:Saudi Arabian people of Albanian descent Category:Saudi Arabian people of Turkish descent Category:Victoria College, Alexandria alumni Category:Businesspeople from Istanbul Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George