A report published by Bloomberg this week claims that Drake & Scull International’s former CEO Khaldoun Al Tabari and his daughter Zeina Al Tabari, who served as a senior executive at the company, owe the contracting firm up to $272.3 million.
Citing sources close to the matter, Bloomberg has reported that the conclusion was reached following an internal probe conducted in June.
The business news service was told that the findings of the investigation have been passed to the UAE authorities. It also alleges that an order has been issued by Abu Dhabi’s public prosecutor and that “the central bank asked lenders to freeze accounts belonging to Al Tabari and his family.”
Following the news, the share price of DSI rose to 72 fils but have since receded and closed yesterday at 69 fils. On 11 June shares in DSI were worth 1.16 dirhams and were as high as 2.24 dirhams in January after the firm announced that it had successfully completed the restructuring of its corporate general bank debt in the UAE, and that it has secured new credit lines and working capital facilities for its ongoing and new projects portfolio.
The Dubai-based construction and engineering contractor achieved an overall net profit of $1.9 million for the first quarter of the year, compared to a net loss of $228 million declared during the same period in 2017.
Al Tabari stepped down from his role as CEO in 2016.