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Ammon News - By Margaret Coker/ The Wall Street Journal

Two British newspapers have won a motion for the public release of documents related to an acrimonious commercial dispute involving two senior members of the Saudi ruling family — a former defense minister and his son – and their Jordanian business partner.

The case could disclose potentially embarrassing commercial and diplomatic secrets of the Saudi ruling family. It also underscores the dispute within British law between the public’s right to know potentially sensitive information with litigants’ expectation of commercial privacy. Another high-profile allegation of corruption and wrongdoing by senior Saudi princes, involving British arms sales to Riyadh, was blocked or thrown out of London courts, with judges citing national security interests of the British government.

The court battle taking place in London pits Jordanian businessman Faisel Almhairat against his Saudi partners — Prince Mishal bin Abdelaziz al Saud, the 86-year-old brother of the Saudi king, and his son Prince Abdelaziz al Mishal al Saud.

Allegations in the legal dispute include charges by the Saudis that the Jordanian is responsible for mismanagement and fraud. The Jordanian, meanwhile, argues that the Saudis were involved with smuggling and money-laundering.

Lawyers for both of the feuding parties have denied wrongdoing on behalf of their clients.

The latest twist in the two-year-old commercial battle came last week when a London appeals court ruled last Wednesday against a motion by the Saudis’ lawyers to keep adjudication of the commercial dispute out of the public domain.

The British newspapers The Financial Times and The Guardian filed petitions against the Saudis’ bid to keep the case private and records of the business dispute sealed.

Separately, the Saudi princes lost a motion last week for immunity due to their status as members of the kingdom’s ruling family.

Prince Mishal served as Saudi defense minister in the 1950s and is currently the chairman of the Allegiance Council, the body expected to choose the next king of Saudi Arabia when current ruler, King Abdullah al Saud, dies or becomes incapacitated.

It is unclear what initiated the original business dispute or triggered the breakdown in relations between the partners. Over the last two years, claims and counterclaims against the two companies and their principals have exploded into what a London judge has called a “nuclear mushroom cloud of interlocutory applications,” according to a ruling cited by The Financial Times.

Last week’s court rulings have granted The Guardian and The FT access to court filings in the commercial dispute as well as the right to publish details from the court documents.

The full court case against the various allegations is not expected to start until next year, according to The Financial Times.