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The Public Prosecutor in Amman, Jordan, has filed an indictment against the former CEO of Dubai-based contractor Drake and Scull International, his daughter and a former executive director at the firm on several charges, including fraud.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the DSI said the indictment made against Khaldoun Saeed Al Tabari, Zeina Khaldoun Al Tabari, and Saleh Mustafa Muradweij, a former executive director at the firm, includes the felony of fraud in buying, selling, or managing movable and immovable state or public authority funds, as per Article (175) of the Penal Code and Articles (2, 3 and 4) of the Jordanian Economic Crimes Law.
Tabari was the CEO of DSI from 1998 to 2016 and has been accused by the UAE’s Public Funds Prosecution of several transgressions valued at more than AED 4 billion in addition to other financial crimes.
He left the UAE with his family in 2018 and has not returned since. In January 2020, Tabari was arrested at Jordan's Queen Alia International Airport in Amman on January 7 as he was catching a flight to the UK, after Interpol issued a Red Notice for his arrest.
Amman’s Attorney General has also issued an arrest warrant for Zeina Khaldoun Al Tabari.
The UAE’s Public Funds Prosecution had accused the former DSI CEO of several transgressions, namely, appropriating funds from a public joint-stock company; squandering funds; profiteering and mismanagement, along with other financial crimes committed during his tenure as the company’s CEO and vice chairman of the board of directors.
The UAE has been seeking Tabari’s extradition from Jordan. Both the UAE and Jordan are signatory parties to the Riyadh Arab Convention on Judicial Co-operation.
The accusations were revealed following internal investigations conducted by the company. The Central Bank of the UAE directed banks operating in the Emirates to freeze Al Tabari’s accounts – as well as those of his family members.
The indictment against Tabari and his daughter included charges of squandering sums of money and appointing an external legal advisor without approval from the company’s Board of Directors. The company paid exaggerated legal fees to said advisor, who investigations later revealed was not a lawyer or legal advisor.
The indictment also accused the Tabaris of disbursing unjustified sums of money to an entity, in addition to paying commission for the purchase of immovable property in Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah.
(Reporting by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
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