Tim Daniel, a British lawyer and anti-corruption specialist, said: "London is a No 1 destination for kleptocrats".
Though said to be motivated by fear that the Saudis would withhold counter-terrorism intelligence should the investigation proceed, few anti-corruption specialists saw the decision as the UK's finest moment.
Under Jackie Selebi, the previous head of the police who was found guilty of corruption in 2010, specialist police units to deal with gangs and drugs were disbanded.
Both are specialists in corruption cases, and have a formidable reputation for tenacity, toughness and independence.
It set up a secret committee comprising members of its Criminal Investigation Department, the Rapid Action Battalion - the government's specialist anti-corruption squad - and Special Branch to investigate the claims.
A former federal prosecutor, Mr. Hockman is a specialist in public corruption and fraud cases.
But the prolific Mr. Gibney, whose other films include "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," "Taxi to the Dark Side" and "Casino Jack and the United States of Money," is something of a specialist in the corruptions of power.
He has set up a series of specialist bodies to fight corruption and poor management, appointing a team of advisers.
"In the short term, the decision will become a direct effective measure to root out corruption in the army," Liu Qinglong, a legal specialist at Tsinghua University, tells the China Daily.
In Mumbai, the celebrated "encounter specialists" soon became mired in corruption allegations.
The top issues in the election, said Alin Teodorescu, a market survey specialist, are inflation, sinking standards of living, corruption, and health and education.
