Khaldoun Al Tabari, the former CEO of Drake & Scull International (DSI) has denied any wrongdoing after it was reported last week that he 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 had previously reported that DSI had reached the conclusion following an internal probe conducted in June. The news service has subsequently published a statement from Khaldoun Al Tabari denying that he and his daughter owe money to DSI and claiming that they acted within the law and in the interests of the contractor.
“I refute in the strongest terms any suggestion that I or my daughter owe Drake & Scull International PJSC (DSI) any money at all,” Al Tabari noted in his statement. He further denied that, the previous management of DSI was guilty of any wrongdoing, impropriety, negligence or incompetence.”
Al Tabari who stepped down from his role as CEO in 2016, added: “I was given no opportunity to respond to the supposed internal investigation by DSI.”
The initial report by Bloomberg said that the findings of an investigation have been passed to the UAE authorities. It also alleged 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.”