卫报 | 雇佣布莱尔

Tony Blair: the former PM for hire

When Jonathan Powell, the gatekeeper to the corporate empire of , sat down to lunch with the former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Faisal Al Turki in June 2010 he could not have known how lucrative it would turn out to be for the former British prime minister.

2010年6月，托尼•布莱尔公司帝国的看门人乔纳森•鲍威尔与沙特前情报主管费萨尔亲王共进午餐时，他不会想到这对前英国首相而言是一桩利润多么丰厚的生意。

As the , Blair had to be careful not to mix business with pleasure. However, one of those lunching with Powell at the annual “global mediator’s retreat”, organised by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was looking to make a deal.

作为巴以冲突几度波折的和平进程的高级调停人，布莱尔必须小心谨慎，避免把生意和快乐混为一谈。然而在每年由挪威外交部组织的“全球调停人疗养”时和鲍威尔吃顿午餐，正有望做成一笔生意。

Nawaf Obaid, a security analyst who accompanied Prince Faisal, emailed Powell a week later, according to documents seen by the Guardian, with a suggestion to work with his brother Tarek’s company, PetroSaudi, which he “co-founded and co-owns with Prince Turki bin Abdullah, son of King Abdullah”.

文件显示，费萨尔亲王的安全分析员纳沙夫•欧拜德一周后给鲍威尔发邮件，建议和他的兄弟塔里克的公司沙特石油合作，公司是他“与国王阿卜杜拉的儿子费萨尔亲王共同创立和所有的”。

“They have several projects that [they] are working [on] and I think it would [give] a very interesting perspective to see if we could establish a strategic partnership with former PM Tony Blair and yourself,” he wrote.

他写道：“他们在做不少项目，我想知道我们能否和前首相布莱尔和你自己建立战略伙伴关系，这是个有意思的想法。”

Tarek Obaid was a former banker who styled himself as an adviser to members of the Saudi royal family and a director of a joint venture with Malaysia’s multibillion-dollar development fund, 1MDB. This fund had put $300m through PetroSaudi and as the latter’s chief executive, Obaid was on the lookoutfor deals. 

纳沙夫•欧拜德曾经是个银行家，他将自己定位为沙特王室成员顾问、与马来西亚数十亿美元开发基金1MDB的合资公司主任。该基金投资沙特石油3亿美元，作为后者的总裁，欧拜德正在寻找商业机会。

On paper PetroSaudi looked impressive: its chief investment officer was a former Goldman Sachs banker, Patrick Mahony. The chief operating officer was listed as Rick Haythornthwaite, a City insider who was also chairman of Network Rail and MasterCard. 

沙特石油看起来挺厉害：首席投资官是前高盛银行家帕特里克·马奥尼，首席运营官是里克·海索恩思韦特——伦敦资深人士，同时还是英国铁路网和万事达的董事会主席。

Blair’s team sold the former prime minister as someone who could help “unlock situations which might otherwise be blocked by political factors” in places such as  and Africa. PetroSaudi was interested in Beijing’s appetite for oil and how Blair’s firm could help.

布莱尔的团队将这位前首相标榜为可以在中国和非洲帮人“从政治因素阻碍中解困”的人。中国政府渴望进口石油，布莱尔的公司又能帮一把手，这让沙特石油颇感兴趣。

The role assumed by Blair shows his influence in one of the most important areas of global economic cooperation this century: between the oil sands of the Middle East and hydrocarbon-hungry China.

布莱尔的角色显示他在本世纪全球经济合作中最重要的领域中发挥影响力：周旋于中东的油田和油气饥渴的中国之间。

While in office, Blair oversaw the handover of Hong Kong to China, but visited the latter just five times. His sixth visit in 2007 – when  – marked a turning point in how he viewed the rising power.

在任时，布莱尔经历了香港回归中国，但访华仅五次。他2007年第六次访华标志着他对这个崛起大国的看法发生了改变，他在中国工业城市东莞的演讲赚了20万英镑。

Since then Blair has been back two dozen times and has built a reputation for befriending the rising stars of Chinese politics. In March 2010 he secured a meeting with Li Keqiang, now China’s premier.

此后，布莱尔往返二十多次，交际中国政坛新星。2010年3月，他和现在的中国总理会面。

PetroSaudi signed up Blair’s team to lobby Beijing in the summer of 2010 and internal PetroSaudi correspondence reveals there were questions raised about the apparently opaque nature of Blair’s businesses and the role he could play.

沙特石油和布莱尔团队签约，让后者在2010年夏游说中国政府。沙特石油内部通信显示，有人质疑布莱尔的灰色生意和他发挥的作用。

PetroSaudi executives warned in early September 2010 that they had “no contractual nexus with TB” and were anxious about “the lack of apparent employment or other involvement of TB in the corporate structure”.

沙特石油主管在2010年9月提出警告他们和“布莱尔没有合同关系”，担忧“在公司结构中缺少和布莱尔明确的雇佣或其他关联”。

To convince PetroSaudi that if it paid it would get Blair, his executives revealed for the first time how his complex web of companies worked. Blair’s businesses are split into two wings: Firerush, which was governed by the then City regulator the Financial Services Authority, and Windrush, which was not.

为让沙特石油相信，只要付钱，就能请到布莱尔，经理人们第一次揭示了公司的复杂网络是如何工作的。布莱尔的公司有两翼：伦敦金融服务当局主管的Firerush和不受主管的Windrush。

What bothered PetroSaudi was that it was paying roughly $55,000 to Firerush and about $10,000 to Windrush. Both firms trade as Tony Blair Associates (TBA).

From early on in their relationship PetroSaudi executives admitted they knew “very little” about Blair’s firms. 

让沙特石油担忧的是它给Firerush支付了大约55000美元，给Windrush支付了约10000美元，两家公司是布莱尔的联合公司（TBA）。沙特石油的经理人承认，从一开始他们对布莱尔的公司“知之甚少”。

In an email in August 2010, the company’s executives said they “would like to understand more about the structure and the relationship between Firerush, TB Associates and TB. In particular, the engagement letter mentions the provision of services by employees of Firerush which seems inappropriate given we are only looking to engage with TB.”

2010年8月的一封邮件中，公司经理人说他们“想把Firerush、布莱尔联合公司和布莱尔之间的关系搞明白点。尤其聘书中，如果只想聘请布莱尔的话，Firerush的员工提供的服务看起来是不妥的。”

To allay concerns in November 2010, Varun Chandra, a former Lehman Brothers banker and director of TBA, told PetroSaudi that Blair was the “ultimate owner of all this and owns all the share capital” of all the companies. He told PetroSaudi it was not relevant which company got paid “given where the cash ultimately ends up”.

为化解这些担忧，2010年11月，前雷曼兄弟银行家、布莱尔联合公司主任Varun Chandra告诉沙特石油，布莱尔是“所有公司的最终所有人，拥有所有公司的全部股份”。他告诉沙特石油哪个公司获利都没关系，“只要最终拿到了钱”。

Chandra explained that Firerush executives handled the day-to-day conversations about “specific opportunities and making the arrangements to drive negotiations forward. Tony, procured by Windrush, is involved at higher level, meeting with senior political leadership and business heads in order to discuss PetroSaudi at a strategic level and to speak highly of your management.”

Chandra解释说，Firerush的经理人处理“推进谈判事务的日常对话”，“通过Windrush，布莱尔参与高级别活动，和高管和商界领袖会晤，在战略层面与沙特石油进行商讨，高度赞赏你的管理团队。”

PetroSaudi, he said, had already seen the benefit as “the man in charge of China’s economic policy is now supportive of working with PetroSaudi, and … he has spoken with CNPC [China National Petroleum Corporation] to ensure a proper working dialogue”.

他说沙特石油已经看到好处，“负责制定中国经济政策的人支持与沙特石油合作，和中石油打了招呼，保证工作层面对话的正常展开。”

By November 2010 TBA was hired and, according to the documents, Blair had found time to put PetroSaudi’s case to , the then chairman of the China Investment Corporation and now the nation’s finance minister.

文件显示，2010年11月，布莱尔联合公司受雇，布莱尔把沙特石油推荐给楼继伟，当时是中投董事长，现在是国家财政部长。

Questions could be raised about why Blair was allowed to promote the interests of the son of the then ruler of Saudi Arabia in China while also working as the Middle East peace envoy for the Quartet – the US, UN, EU and Russia. 

布莱尔一方面为当时沙特统治者儿子的在中国的利益工作，另一方面又是美国、联合国、欧盟和俄罗斯四方中东和平特使，这就有问题了。

Blair had also faced criticism for  over a multibillion-pound arms deal with Saudi Arabia. He denies any conflict of interest.

布莱尔还面临着英国重大欺诈办公室指控他在2006年任首相期间与沙特数十亿英镑军售中涉嫌腐败的调查，他否认存在利益冲突。

PetroSaudi had made it clear it wanted to hire Blair. In an internal 2010 document entitled “story for Blair”, PetroSaudi sold itself as a “vehicle of the Saudi royal family” that could count on the “full support from the kingdom’s diplomatic corps” and was set up by Prince Turki bin Abdullah and Obaid, who hailed from a “prominent business family”.

沙特石油表明他想雇佣布莱尔。2010年标注为“布莱尔故事”的内部文件中，沙特石油将自己标榜为“沙特王室的工具”，可以得到“王国外交使团的全力支持”，由费萨尔亲王和来自于“显赫商业家庭”的欧拜德建立。

PetroSaudi’s pitch in the document was that it claimed “many countries will get a company in but then bully it around once it is there and has sunk billions of dollars in the ground. This will not happen with [PetroSaudi] because these nations do not want to get on the wrong side of the Saudi royal family.”

在文件中，沙特石油的说辞是“许多国家都会选一家公司，可那些公司一进入后就被欺压，耗费数十亿美元。沙特石油不会如此，因为这些国家不想和沙特王室交恶。”

But access to the legendary Blair contacts book does not come cheap. In July TBA’s then chief operating officer, Mark Labovitch, emailed Mahony to say he had “discussed your strategy and objectives with Tony and believe strongly that we can add value to PetroSaudi’s business development … We would propose a retainer fee of $100,000 per month.”

可和传奇的布莱尔搭上关系可不便宜。7月，时任布莱尔联合公司的Mark Labovitch给马奥尼发邮件说，他已经“和布莱尔讨论了你的战略和目标，坚信我们能为沙特石油的业务拓展贡献价值……我们提议每月10万美金的聘金。”

The documents reveal that even before Blair’s company was hired, he was already promoting the oil firm. In late July 2010 Blair was in Shanghai to celebrate the planting of 1m trees in north-west China to combat climate change. A few days later, Labovitch emailed the London-based oil firm to say: “Tony has just been in China and informally sounded out a number of people.”

文件显示在布莱尔公司受聘之前，他已开始推销这家石油公司了。2010年7月末，布莱尔在上海庆祝中国西北植树100万棵，几天后，Labovitch给总部在伦敦的石油公司发邮件说：“布莱尔刚刚在中国，非正式接触了一些人。”

Tarek Obaid and Blair did meet privately in early July 2010, and apparently discussed a working relationship. A month later Blair’s company was on a retainer fee of $65,000 and a “success fee equal to 2%” of any deal that TBA brought to the company – which PetroSaudi admitted could “potentially be a very large sum”.

欧拜德和布莱尔于2010年7月初私下会晤，显然讨论了工作关系。一个月后，布莱尔的公司收到了聘请费65000美元，约定布莱尔联合公司给石油公司带来生意，从中抽取“2%的成功费”，沙特石油承认“这将是很大一笔钱”。

By August 2010, according to documents, PetroSaudi raised concerns internally that TBA’s proposed contract was “more appropriate to an investment bank”. 

文件显示，到2010年8月，沙特石化内部提出担心，认为布莱尔联合公司提议的合同“更适宜于投资银行”。

In an email, Mahony described the contract offered by Blair’s lieutenants as “a very aggressive first draft with almost total limitation of liability for TB”. 

在邮件中，马奥尼认为布莱尔团队的合同“太强势，几乎免除了布莱尔的义务”。

But at the end of the month Blair was in the Chinese capital for the signing of a partnership agreement between Peking University and , and managed to squeeze in some time with the Chinese oil giants CNPC and China National Offshore Oil Corporation, as well as China’s supreme economic council, the National Development and Reform Commission.

但月底，布莱尔在中国首都出席北京大学和他的信仰基金会的伙伴关系签约仪式，想办法和中国石油巨头中石油、中海油以及中国最高经济委员会发改委接洽。

“The latter effectively ‘blessed’ your engagement with Chinese companies, and the former were both very keen to meet you and work out how you might collaborate,” Blair’s then chief operating officer told PetroSaudi. “We clearly articulated the benefits of partnership with you to them, which they grasped immediately.”

当时布莱尔的首席运营官告诉沙特石油：“发改委有效地赐您和中国公司接触的机会，两个公司都期待和您见面，商讨合作事宜。我们明确向他们表明与您合作的好处，他们马上明白了。”

In November, Blair was back in Beijing to give a speech for his Faith Foundation. He also had a meeting with China’s vice-premier, Wang Qishan, who Blair’s firm told PetroSaudi was “crucial – inter alia in order to highlight the wider benefits of a partnership with PetroSaudi in terms of putting Chinese companies in pole position for Saudi infrastructure tenders”. 

11月，布莱尔回到北京，为他的信仰基金会做演讲，与时任副总理王岐山会晤。布莱尔公司对沙特石油说，这“至关重要，尤其在让中国公司参与沙特基础设施招标中占优方面，寻求与沙特石化更广泛的伙伴利益”。

Blair’s relationship with PetroSaudi appeared to give him access to the Saudi elite. In December 2010 an executive of PetroSaudi said the company could arrange a dinner for Blair with Prince Turki. Blair’s office say this never took place.

布莱尔与沙特石油的关系让他接触到沙特精英。2010年12月，沙特石化一名经理说公司可以安排布莱尔与亲王共进晚餐。布莱尔办公室说从来没有进餐。

The next month Blair’s office emailed PetroSaudi because he was keen to meet the King of  and Prince Bandar, the secretary general of the country’s national security council, before the February 2011 Quartet meeting to discuss Middle East peace after the Egyptian revolution.

一个月后，布莱尔办公室给沙特石油发邮件，布莱尔希望在2011年2月的四国会谈时讨论埃及革命后的中东和平前与沙特国王与苏丹王子会晤，后者是国家安全委员会秘书长。