KUWAIT // Kuwaiti logistics firm Agility said on Monday it was in talks with the US government regarding a settlement in a fraud case, but no deal has been reached yet.
"A deal has not been reached until now, and there are no guarantees that these negotiations would lead to a solution," Agility said in a statement on the Kuwaiti bourse website on Monday.
Earlier, the Kuwait bourse halted trading in Agility's shares pending clarification of reports the logistics firm is near to a settlement.
Several Kuwaiti newspapers carried reports on Monday about Agility seeking a settlement of up to $600 million with the US government.
"Until now the final settlement has not been signed, as some of the points are still pending, however the amount is between $500 million and $600 million," Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas said in an unsourced report.
The firm will seek to schedule the settlement amount over a five-year period, Qabas said, adding the settlement will allow Agility to acquire new contracts.
Agility is accused of overcharging the U.S. Army on $8.5 billion worth of contracts to provide food to soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan.
If convicted of violations of the False Claims Act, the firm faces probation and a fine of up to twice the gain it realised or twice the loss to the US.
"A settlement would be better for Agility, but I do not think that Agility will sacrifice huge amounts in the settlement," Mustafa Behbahani, a director at Kuwait Gulf Consulting Co said on Monday. "It all depends on the future deals Agility is eyeing."
"If the future contracts are worth four or five times more than the settlement amount, this would be in favour of the firm," he added.
Last week, an Agility spokesman said a court hearing was being rescheduled and no new date had yet been set.
The Kuwaiti firm announced last week that US defence contractor DynCorp International had dropped its US unit as a subcontractor in a U.S. Army deal.
Agility said it was looking at legal options over DynCorp International's decision to drop Agility Defense and Government Services Inc as a subcontractor as of Dec. 17.
Agility's shares fell 3 per cent on the Kuwait bourse on Monday after trading resumed.
*Reuters
Changing visa rules
For decades the UAE has granted two and three year visas to foreign workers, tied to their current employer. Now that's changing.
Last year, the UAE cabinet also approved providing 10-year visas to foreigners with investments in the UAE of at least Dh10 million, if non-real estate assets account for at least 60 per cent of the total. Investors can bring their spouses and children into the country.
It also approved five-year residency to owners of UAE real estate worth at least 5 million dirhams.
The government also said that leading academics, medical doctors, scientists, engineers and star students would be eligible for similar long-term visas, without the need for financial investments in the country.
The first batch - 20 finalists for the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.- were awarded in January and more are expected to follow.
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
AGL AWARDS
Golden Ball - best Emirati player: Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira)
Golden Ball - best foreign player: Igor Coronado (Sharjah)
Golden Glove - best goalkeeper: Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah)
Best Coach - the leader: Abdulaziz Al Anbari (Sharjah)
Fans' Player of the Year: Driss Fetouhi (Dibba)
Golden Boy - best young player: Ali Saleh (Al Wasl)
Best Fans of the Year: Sharjah
Goal of the Year: Michael Ortega (Baniyas)
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
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