THE highly controversial boss of Saudi Arabia's pricey NEOM project has been sacked after allegedly threatening to bury a worker in the desert. Nadhmi Al-Nasr, head of the infamous Saudi mega scheme, has been heavily criticised in the past after allegations of abuse and an aggressive management style have all been revealed. The final blow to his reign came when a worker claimed he had been threatened by the chief.
Al-Nasr is accused of telling the employee that he would have him buried in the desert before urinating on his grave, report the Wall Street Journal. NEOM are yet to explain why Al-Nasr has left the project but sources told the WSJ he was sacked. The 68-year-old CEO had been working under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the futuristic city since 2018.
But his departure marks the latest in a string of major blunders in the Kingdom as NEOM's lights appear to be drastically dimming. The flagship project has already been scaled back , but the biggest issues come from a looming a series of controversies that has raised serious questions about its feasibility and ethical foundations. More than 21,000 workers have died in just eight years since the Vision 2030 project was launched, according to shocking new statistics.
Staff have complained of feeling like "trapped slaves" and "beggars" in the country amid serious allegations of missed payments, working illegal hours and human rights violations. Many of these issues have been linked back to several Saudi bosses runni.
