On July 25 the US government said Al Shanfari was involved in supporting the Mugabe regime through a diamond company called ONR. He resigned as chairman of the company in 2002.
His lawyers have demanded that the US removes his name from the list. He was succeeded at Oryx by the former information minister of Qatar, Dr Issa Al Kawari, while the CEO was Geoffrey White – currently CEO of Lonrho Plc. The former US ambassador Frances Cook was also at the time an Oryx board member.