Saudi king leaves France 'without paying €3.7m medical bills'
Aug 4, 2015
One of France's best known doctors tweeted that the king 'could have paid his bill of €3.7m to the Paris hospitals. A polite gesture!'
By Gavin Mortimer
As holidays go, King Salman of Saudi Arabia has probably enjoyed more harmonious breaks than the eight days he's just spent on the French Riviera. His Royal Highness had intended to enjoy three weeks of Mediterranean sun, sea and sand, but he cut short his sojourn after enraging the locals.
More than 150,000 people signed a petition protesting at the decision by the local council to seal off a public beach near the monarch's villa, and that prompted the king to move his vast 1000-strong entourage to Morocco.
A source close to the king insisted his flight from France was part of his holiday itinerary, so it will be interesting to see how he spins his way of his latest PR disaster.
On Monday evening Patrick Pelloux, one of France's best known doctors, tweeted to his thousands of followers: "Before leaving the king of Saudi Arabia could have paid his bill of €3.7m to the Paris hospitals. A polite gesture!"
By Tuesday morning Pelloux's message had been retweeted more than 1,000 times and the French newspapers had picked up the story. Le Parisien reported that the Assistance publique – Hopitaux de Paris (AP-HP), the city's public hospital system, had confirmed to them the sum. The paper added that the bill was not run up by King Salman, but by people working for the Saudi kingdom. "The concern is not just the privatization of a small beach," explained Pelloux, a regular contributor to the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. "If Barack Obama had come, we would have privatized the Mediterranean… the real problem is the wealthy heads of state [and] Embassy staff come to be treated in France then leave their bills behind."
Accusing France of being "too nice with the kings and their diplomats," Pelloux told Le Parisien the State was particularly lax with countries with whom they sign "big armament contracts". In June Paris and Riyad signed arms deals totalling $12 billion, with Saudi Arabia also planning "to sign off on a feasibility study for the construction of two nuclear reactors in the kingdom with France."
Saudi Arabia isn't the only country, however, that owes AP-HP money with the cumulative debt at the end of 2014 standing at €118.6m. Officials from Algeria owe the hospitals most, €31.6m, while their North African neighbours Morocco are in the red to the tune of €11m. Even the USA has been taking advantage of the Paris medical system, running up debts of €5.7m.
http://www.theweek.co.uk/64634/saudi-king-leaves-france-without-paying-37m-medical-bills
