His father was the former Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani who handed control of the nation to his son, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in 2013. The move basically left younger son Sheikh Khalid as first in line to the throne. Qatar has a total population of only 1.8 million but only 280,000 are Qatari citizens while the rest 1.5 million expatriates.
Qatar has been ruled by the Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Backed by the world’s third largest natural gas reserves and oil reserves, the country has the highest per capita income in the world. Qatar is set to become the first Arab country to host a FIFA World Cup tournament in 2022.
When a wealthy sheikh was caught on videotape in Beverly Hills speeding through stop signs and blazing past pedestrians in a 12-cylinder US$1.4 million yellow Ferrari, it raises eyebrows. The owner of the supercar is none other than Sheikh Khalid, the twenty-something son of Qatar’s Al Thani ruling family.
The yellow Ferrari LaFerrari was videotaped racing with a white Porsche 911 GT3 zooming down narrow street until they finally pulled into a driveway, where the Ferrari’s engine were seen smoking, suggesting the super rich badass Qatar prince had probably lost his race. When police questioned him, Al Thani denied he had driven recklessly and claimed diplomatic immunity.
According to Beverly Hills police Chief Dominick Rivetti, the police consulted the U.S. State Department and the Qatar consulate and concluded Khalid Hamad Al Thani had no immunity from prosecution. “The city will apply the law equally regardless of who you are, who you know or where you are from,” – said Rivetti said.
However, the police could not determine who was driving the cars because the drivers weren’t visible on the videos, which was posted online by Adam Bornstein, a car enthusiast. Meanwhile, Lt. Lincoln Hoshino said investigators were unable to find anyone who was willing to identify the drivers.
Nevertheless, police will continue investigating and if the drivers are identified they could be charged with reckless driving, at least that was what Rivetti claims. The police chief clarified that people cannot claim diplomatic immunity if they don’t have one in the first place. So far, Beverly Hills has lodged its outrage over the incident to the Qatari consulate via the U.S. State Department.
Sheikh Khalid reportedly has spent millions of dollars to support Al-Anabi Racing, a professional drag-racing team. The mega rich boy has spent at least US$10 million on the team in 2009 alone. He has even pinched Johnson with top money, one of the top crew chiefs in the business, away from Don Schumacher Racing.
Amazingly, before the police could charge Sheikh Khalid Hamad Al-Thani with reckless driving and other offences, which probably includes falsely claiming diplomatic immunity, the prince disappeared, together with his cars. Perhaps he got panic or has been tipped off about the police coming for him.
But unlike Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Conner in “Fast & Furious”, Sheikh Khalid has tons of money and influence in order not to get caught by the U.S. authorities. After his daddy abruptly stopped the funding for his drag-racing team in January, the Qatari consulate could have moved resources flying the prince out of America to prevent prosecution and embarrassment.
Still, the police have been criticised by netizens for dragging their feet and stupidly believed the prince’s lie that he enjoyed diplomatic immunity. That’s because Qatar does not have an embassy in Los Angeles but has a consulate instead, which means at the most those men have been consulate officials. Consulate officials do not receive protection from criminal charges like reckless driving.
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September 19th, 2015 by financetwitter
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