Saudi Aramco exec spent week in Indian jail for having satellite tv for pc telephone

A senior govt at Saudi Aramco spent nearly per week in an Indian jail over the summer season after he was arrested for having a satellite tv for pc telephone whereas on a yoga vacation close to the nation’s border with China.

Fergus MacLeod, head of investor relations on the world’s largest oil exporter, stated he was arrested on July 12 at his lodge within the Valley of Flowers Nationwide Park, which is within the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. The 62-year-old was held in jail within the city of Chamoli till July 18.

Authorities detained the British govt after selecting up the coordinates of the telephone, which MacLeod says he turned on and off at his lodge however didn’t use whereas on the vacation with mates, a few of whom had been colleagues from Saudi Aramco.

It’s unlawful for international nationals to own and function satellite tv for pc telephones in India with out authorities permission. The bans got here after satellite tv for pc telephones had been utilized by terrorists in the course of the 2008 Mumbai assaults.

MacLeod, who has led investor relations at Saudi Aramco since 2017, informed the Monetary Instances that he was unaware of the ban and had handed by way of two Indian airports, carrying the telephone brazenly, with out being stopped by employees.

The disputed 3,500km border between India and China has lengthy been a supply of stress and the area is intently monitored by Indian safety forces, significantly since lethal border clashes two years in the past.

Narendra Singh Rawat, a police officer in Chamoli, confirmed that MacLeod had been arrested. The manager had carried the telephone “by mistake”, Rawat stated.

MacLeod stated he purchased the machine legally within the UK in 2017 for private use and took it with him when travelling within the desert in Saudi Arabia in case of emergency in distant areas with poor cell phone sign.

One of many few foreigners to achieve the higher ranks of Saudi Aramco, MacLeod stated that whereas he was handled comparatively nicely throughout his nearly week-long detention, jail authorities ignored his day by day requests to contact his lawyer, the British Excessive Fee and his household.

“It was a daunting place and a extremely traumatic expertise, the place I used to be in a communal cell with long-term prisoners who had dedicated very critical crimes,” stated MacLeod.

MacLeod, who co-operated with authorities, stated his mates posted bail on his behalf, securing his launch from jail. Nevertheless, he was unable to go away the nation till after a July 27 courtroom listening to, when he pleaded responsible and paid a advantageous of Rs1,000 ($12).

MacLeod stated he had sought assist from the UK authorities by contacting a International Workplace helpline en path to jail and visited the British Excessive Fee in New Delhi after he was launched on bail.

Whereas the response from the International Workplace in London was sympathetic, it “didn’t translate into any significant motion to help me by the employees on the Excessive Fee in Delhi”, he stated, including that UK authorities informed him they may not intervene with India’s authorized course of.

A International, Commonwealth and Growth Workplace spokesperson stated they “supplied consular help to a British man in India”, however declined to remark additional.

The episode comes as Saudi Arabia seeks to forge deeper ties with India, an more and more vital purchaser of its crude oil because the nation’s center class grows.

MacLeod, who was beforehand the pinnacle of investor relations at BP and earlier than that an oil analyst at Deutsche Financial institution, was recruited by Saudi Aramco to assist professionalise its operations and administration constructions forward of its landmark preliminary public providing in 2019.

Saudi Aramco declined to remark.

Further reporting by Chloe Cornish