Sir William Patey claimed that even though the Gulf State does not fund terrorism directly, it is still financing religious institutions that have radicalized individuals.
"It is unhealthy and we need to do something about it. The Saudis [have] not quite appreciated the impact their funding of a certain brand of Islam is having in the countries in which they do it — it is not just Britain and Europe," Sir William said in a recent interview.
"That is a dialogue we need to have. They are not funding terrorism. They are funding something else, which may down the road lead to individuals being radicalized and becoming fodder for terrorism," he added.
However, since his comments, he told news outlet RT that they were made under the Chatham House Rule. The story was however still published in the Guardian newspaper.
The Chatham House Rule refers to the fact that a meeting's participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker may be disclosed.
"These remarks were made under Chatham House rules which the Guardian either ignored or were unaware of. I do not wish to give the story more prominence," Sir William said.
"The Independent carries the headline that UK says Saudi Arabia is funding terrorism, when I said the exact opposite," Sir William added.
These comments come just days after a new report by the Henry Jackson Society, a UK think tank, claimed that Saudi Arabia had been sponsoring Islamist extremists in Britain.
Read our new report into foreign funding of extremism in the UK here: https://t.co/IO5n3HcOs1
— HenryJacksonSociety (@HJS_Org) July 5, 2017
The findings come as British Prime Minister Theresa May faces pressure to publish the government's own report into foreign funding of terrorism.
