Drake and Scull International’s (DSI) board of directors has appointed Tawfiq Abu Soud as group CEO, effective from January 23, 2019, it has been announced.
Abu Soud was formerly the managing director of DSI’s MEP and Water and Power subsidiaries. According to his LinkedIn profile, he spent 17 years in the role. He has also previously served as the CEO for ADC Energy Systems, CEO for Arabtec Subsidiaries, and as operations director for Manco.
In a statement, the company said that Abu Soud has a ‘stellar record of accomplishment, of inspirational leadership and more than 35 years of experience in delivering consistent results, leading global business expansion, and securing robust business pipelines.’
He will assume the responsibilities of leading DSI’s operations from his predecessor, Yousef Al Mulla, who resigned from his position on December 25, 2018. Abdulla Atatreh, the former chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company, also resigned on the same day from his position, though he remained a member of the Board of Directors.
DSI added that it was concurrently coordinating with the external advisors and the Securities and Commodities Authority to call for a General Assembly Meeting in February 2019, so as to approve its organisational restructuring program.
Earlier this month, the former vice-chairman and CEO of the Dubai-based contractor, Khaldoun Tabari, submitted a $1 million legal claim in the DIFC Courts against the investment company who bought out his shares in the company in 2017.
According to a report by Zawya, the claim was brought by Tabari and his daughter, Zeina, who was also a board director at Drake and Scull. It states that Tabarak Investment breached an agreement undertaken in February 2017, at the time Tabari agreed to sell his shares, to release them from any liabilities arising from their work at Drake and Scull.
In a statement to Zawya, Khaldoun Tabari alleged that Tabarak Investment had not abided by that agreement. In response, a spokesperson for Tabarak Investment said that the claim was a ‘malicious claim’ and that sufficient evidence had been provided to DIFC Courts for them to reject it, the report added.