“We have unanimously decided to return the money,” the opera house’s president, Giuseppe Sala, told reporters after a board meeting called to decide whether to accept the funding.
“Right now, going down this road is not possible.”
The Saudi proposal, which would have included giving a seat on the La Scala board to Saudi Arabia’s culture minister, sparked widespread outrage, with human rights groups and some politicians arguing that one of Italy’s most prestigious cultural institutions should not accept Saudi money.
The deeply conservative country has been accused of repeated human rights abuses and has come under intense international scrutiny following the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last October.
The Washington Post contributor was killed in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul.
Sala, who is also Milan’s mayor, said the funds – part of a proposed €15-million euro five-year partnership deal with the Saudi culture ministry – had been deposited into an escrow account without the theatre’s consent.
La Scala director Alexander Pereira, who had negotiated the deal with the Saudi culture ministry, will keep his job, Sala said, amid reports he would be ousted over the controversy.
