UK's PwC Firm Under Fire Over Bid on Upgrading Saudi Army - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - One of the UK's biggest consulting firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), came under fire for having lodged a bid for a major contract on overhauling Saudi Arabia's military amid reports about multiple human rights cases of abuse in Yemen committed by the Saudi troops, The Guardian newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, experts, including Amnesty International officials, claim that if the bid is successful, the firm may be viewed as complicit to the human rights abuses attributed to Saudi Arabia during the ongoing war in Yemen.

The media outlet added that the PwC, should it win the contract, would reshape recruitment, resourcing, performance management and strategic planning in the Saudi defense system.

The company confirmed it had tendered for the project, however, refused to provide any further details.

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The issue has become critical as the human rights watchdogs dubbed the war in Yemen "the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe," claiming that since joining the conflict the Saudi-led coalition conducted multiple airstrikes against civilian targets, some of which can amount to war crimes.

Saudi Arabia has been a major ally of the Yemeni government forces in the fight against Houthis rebels since March 2015.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates that over 6,300 civilians have been killed since the onset of the conflict, with the real death toll likely to be much higher.