The former chief executive of Dubai-based construction company Drake & Scull International was arrested earlier this month in Jordan.
Khaldoun Tabari, who led the company from before its initial public offering on the Dubai Financial Market in 2008 until October 2016, was arrested on January 5th and surrendered his passport to the Jordanian authorities.
He told The National he remains unaware of the allegations that have been made against him.
"We are surprised. My lawyer is shocked. We have no clue," Mr Tabari said.
Mr Tabari sold his remaining shares in Drake & Scull February 2017 and resigned as a board member at the same time, as a restructuring and recapitalisation of the business was agreed which involved a Dh500 million capital injection in Drake & Scull.
However, the company subsequently said in an announcement in May last year that it had handed over files "related to questionable projects for the period 2009-16” as part of 15 legal complaints that had been filed to the public prosecutor for what it described as “offences by members of the previous management during their tenure between 2009-2017”.
The company did not name any of the executives involved, but in June 2018 Mr Tabari's UAE bank accounts were frozen and a travel ban was issued against him. He was outside of the UAE at the time and hasn't returned to the country since, although he says his lawyers have been in constant contact with the public prosecutor's office.
"What we know is there has been a committee looking at all things [regarding his past conduct at Drake & Scull] which we gave all the information," he said.
"There has been no communication. My lawyer goes every week. I have letters to prove that saying 'it is still under investigation, wait until we call you'. The latest letter we got was on October 22, 2019," he added.
Drake & Scull said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market on November 6 last year that "ongoing investigations have led to the filing of additional criminal complaints in Dubai".
"Probes are also underway to uncover any other offences committed against the company. Further, the court convicted one of the previous board members and he is currently serving time in a UAE jail," it said.
It also added that internal investigations carried out "through a fact-finding committee and a professional group of financial and legal experts" had uncovered a series of annual losses that had been hidden from shareholders that reached a total of Dh3.15 billion by 2017, which was about three times' the company's paid-up capital.
"These hidden losses are the result of the previous executive management’s failure to comply with corporate governance and transparency rules, and lack of proper managerial and financial standards, the fact-finding committee observed," the company's statement said.
A spokesman for Drake & Scull declined to comment.
Zombieland: Double Tap
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Stars: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone
Four out of five stars
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
Results
- Brock Lesnar retained the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns
- Braun Strowman and Nicolas won the Raw Tag Team titles against Sheamus and Cesaro
- AJ Styles retained the WWE World Heavyweight title against Shinsuke Nakamura
- Nia Jax won the Raw Women’s title against Alexa Bliss
- Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon beat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
- The Undertaker beat John Cena
- The Bludgeon Brothers won the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos and New Day
- Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle beat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon
- Jinder Mahal won the United States title against Randy Orton, Rusev and Bobby Roode
- Charlotte retained the SmackDown Women’s title against Asuka
- Seth Rollins won the Intercontinental title against The Miz and Finn Balor
- Naomi won the first WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal
- Cedric Alexander won the vacant Cruiserweight title against Mustafa Ali
- Matt Hardy won the Andre the Giant Battle Royal
if you go
The flights Fly Dubai, Air Arabia, Emirates, Etihad, and Royal Jordanian all offer direct, three-and-a-half-hour flights from the UAE to the Jordanian capital Amman. Alternatively, from June Fly Dubai will offer a new direct service from Dubai to Aqaba in the south of the country. See the airlines’ respective sites for varying prices or search on reliable price-comparison site Skyscanner.
The trip
Jamie Lafferty was a guest of the Jordan Tourist Board. For more information on adventure tourism in Jordan see Visit Jordan. A number of new and established tour companies offer the chance to go caving, rock-climbing, canyoning, and mountaineering in Jordan. Prices vary depending on how many activities you want to do and how many days you plan to stay in the country. Among the leaders are Terhaal, who offer a two-day canyoning trip from Dh845 per person. If you really want to push your limits, contact the Stronger Team. For a more trek-focused trip, KE Adventure offers an eight-day trip from Dh5,300 per person.
SPECS
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