Court to decide on Abraaj case

If found guilty, company’s executives face up to 3 years in jail

ASharjah court will today deliver its judgement on a bad cheque case against Arif Naqvi, founder of private equity company Abraaj and a colleague, Mohammad Rafique Lakhani.

The public prosecutor’s office in Sharjah issued arrest warrants earlier this month against Naqvi and Lakhani.

The prosecutor is pressing ahead with charges against Abraaj executives for issuing cheques with insufficient funds. In the UAE, bouncing a cheque is treated as a criminal offence.

The bounced cheque relates to approximately $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) in loans from Hamid Jafar, the founder of the Sharjah-based Crescent Group to Abraaj and Naqvi.

At last Thursday’s hearing the court reserved the case for judgement today. Naqvi was not present in court; he is believed to be out of the country. If found guilty, lawyers say, Naqvi and Lakhani could face up to three years in prison.

While Naqvi is represented by Dr Habib Al Mulla, executive chairman at Baker McKenzie Habib Al Mulla, Hamid Jafar is represented by Essam Al Tamimi, Senior Partner at Al Tamimi & Co.

Although Abraaj made some progress in the sale of some of its assets, there are no indications of resolving the case relating to the bounced cheque ahead of the court verdict.

Earlier this week, Dubai-listed Amanat Holdings said that it has agreed to acquire Middlesex University’s campus in Dubai, which is partly owned by Abraaj. It is not clear at what valuation the sale is being finalised.

“Amanat entered into a share purchase agreement on an “arm’s length basis” on June 8 to acquire the university’s owner and operator, Middlesex Associates, from Mocha Education Holdings Limited,” the company said in a statement to the Dubai bourse this week.

Earlier this month Abraaj filed for a court-supervised restructuring and sale of its funds.

Dubai-listed Amanat Holdings said that it has agreed to acquire Middlesex University’s campus in Dubai, which is partly owned by Abraaj.