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The Vice Media group secretly organised a ��festival for the Saudi government�� in March 2020, the Guardian reported on Tuesday.

The leading independent youth media company organised the Azimuth�� - which had an estimated budget of $20 million -��through its creative marketing agency Virtue,��according to the UK newspaper.

Vice - who announced last April that they would��open an office in Riyadh -��said in 2018 that they were����after the killing of the journalist by a hit squad��at the Saudi��consulate in Istanbul.

Vice��employees told the Guardian about their disappointment in the youth media company's continued work with Riyadh despite the kingdom's��poor human rights record.

“Vice employees have for years raised concerns over the company’s involvement with Saudi Arabia...��we’ve been fobbed off with empty statements and pathetic excuses,”��one employee told the newspaper.

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“It is astounding that – despite ongoing opposition from staff – Vice is still happy to take money from a country that was literally responsible for the state-sanctioned murder of a journalist,” another employee said.

Azimuth described their festival as a place "where history meets culture", but�� on such music events, stating they are aimed at��diverting attention from Saudi Arabia's��human rights violations.

A declassified US��intelligence assessment released in��February 2021 said that Saudi��Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely seen as the country's de facto ruler,��approved of the operation to��kill Khashoggi.

Vice boasts offices in 35 cities across the globe and said��they would employ 1,500 people in Saudi Arabia as they announced their Riyadh��office opening last year,.

“Our growth in the region has always been driven by our mission to champion young voices. Given how dynamic youth culture currently is in this part of the world, this move represents a natural expansion of our operations,” Jason Leavy, Vice��Media’s senior vice-president, said in a statement at the time.