Ex-Drake & Scull CEO faces charges in Jordan

Khaldoun Tabari says he is being made a 'scapegoat' for the company's current predicament

The Public Prosecutor in Amman has filed indictment charges against former Drake & Scull chief executive Khaldoun Tabari and his daughter, Zeina. Ravindranath K / The National

Dubai-based contractor Drake & Scull said charges have been brought against its former chief executive Khaldoun Tabari in his home country of Jordan.

Felony fraud charges were brought by the public prosecutor in Amman against Mr Tabari, his daughter Zeina and a third former company employee, Saleh Mustafa Muradweij, for "buying, selling, or managing moveable and immoveable state or public authority funds", the company said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market.

A misdemeanour charge of fraud and breach of trust has also been brought against Mr Tabari and his daughter during the period where they managed Drake & Scull in the UAE, the statement said.

The charges against the pair include "squandering sums of money and appointing an external legal advisor without approval from the company’s board" and paying exaggerated fees to advisers.

Mr Tabari told The National there "are many things that are wrong" in the company's statement.

The case has been brought as a consequence of requests to extradite the former executive last year, which was dismissed in local courts, he said.

Under a treaty to which the UAE and Jordan are signatories, if an extradition request is turned down by either country, an entity seeking charges in one jurisdiction can bring them in another.

The three charges have a total monetary value of Dh14 million ($3.8m) and are part of the 15 claims the company brought to the UAE's federal prosecutor in 2018, Mr Tabari confirmed.

The Jordanian charges relate to payments to consultants linked to three projects – its One at Palm Jumeirah joint venture and two schemes in Saudi Arabia – that Mr Tabari said were contemporaneously approved by the majority of the board's nine directors.

The charge relating to the appointment of a legal adviser, which the company said was not authorised by the board, was done so with the approval of internal and external legal counsel and its chairman, Mr Tabari argued.

Drake & Scull said hearings have already taken place at the criminal court in Amman in the presence of Mr Tabari. Both Ms Tabari and Mr Muradweij did not attend hearings and warrants have been issued for their arrest, according to the company.

"Neither my daughter, or Mr Muradweij are available in Jordan," Mr Tabari said. He will attend court hearings as expected, he added.

"My position remains the same. I have served the company with the highest integrity and and will continue to defend myself as I have done for the last two and half years," he said. He argued that he is being used as "a scapegoat" by the company's current executives to justify its plight.

Mr Tabari headed Drake & Scull from 1998, overseeing its flotation on the Dubai stock market in 2008 and remaining at the helm until August 2016, when he stepped back after former Arcadis Middle East head Wael Allan was appointed as chief executive to lead a restructuring.

Mr Allan oversaw a capital reorganisation plan, which led to Dh1.7 billion of company shares being cancelled to expunge historic losses and Tabarak Investment coming in as a strategic investor with a Dh500m capital injection. He was dismissed by DSI in August 2017.

However, the company did not rebound and losses continued to mount. Its shares were suspended in November 2018 and by the end of last September its accumulated losses reached Dh4.88bn.

Drake & Scull is now in a formal restructuring process and has been working on a plan that was due to be presented to creditors last month.