Saudi suspends Binladin group over Mecca crane crash: royal court

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia suspended major construction company Binladin group from new contracts following the Mecca crane crash that killed 107 people and ordered the finance ministry to review its existing projects, the royal court said on Monday. King Salman also ordered that all members of the board and senior executives be prevented from traveling abroad after an investigation into last week's incident showed the crane had been erected in a way that deviated from manufacturers instructions, causing it to crash in high wind. Explaining the action, an official statement referred without elaborating to the responsibility and "shortcomings" of the company following an investigation into the crane crash that also injured 238 other people. The king ordered that the Binladin group be prevented from entering into new bids or new projects, said the statement, carried by state news agency SPA. The suspension would remain in force until the investigation is complete and until all legal cases are settled. The crane toppled over at Mecca's Grand Mosque last Friday, less than two weeks before Islam's annual hajj pilgrimage. The Binladin group, one of the largest contracting companies in the kingdom, had been carrying expansion work at the Grand Mosque. It was founded more than 80 years ago by the father of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and is run by Osama's brother Bakr. A statement by a spokesman for the administration of the mosques in Mecca and Medina said the crane smashed into the part of the Grand Mosque where worshippers circle the Kaaba - the black-clad cube towards which the world's 1.6 billion Muslims face to pray. The hajj, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, has been prone to disasters in the past, mainly from stampedes as pilgrims rush to complete rituals and return home. Hundreds of pilgrims died in such a crush in 2006. (Reporting by Ali Abdelatti, writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by William Maclean and Dominic Evans)