NMC Health founder says 'small group' committed fraud
BR Shetty claims loans, cheques issued 'using forged signature'
Former and current executives at NMC Health and payments firm Finablr opened fraudulent bank accounts, issuing cheques and loans using forged signatures, the founder of both companies said on Wednesday.
Indian billionaire BR Shetty said an internal investigation had unearthed “the fraudulent creation and operating of bank accounts in my name including many fraudulent transfers that I neither authorised, consented to, or had any knowledge of”.
In a rare public statement, Shetty said the probe had also discovered the creation of loans, personal guarantees, cheques and bank transfers “using my forged signature”. It had also involved some of his private companies, he added.
Shetty, who stepped down as chairman in February as signs of the scandal emerged, said he had shared his information with "all relevant boards, as well as with relevant law enforcement and regulatory authorities".
"I remain fully committed to working with both companies and all relevant authorities in the UAE and UK to ensure that all stakeholders are provided with as full and comprehensive an understanding of the entire situation as I can, as well as all the facts as I know them, as quickly as possible.
"I am vigorously pursuing, all legal actions and remedies available to me against those who have committed fraud against my businesses and myself."
Shetty commissioned the inquiry after an accounting scandal at the Gulf's largest private healthcare operator snowballed to reveal debts of $6.6bn and resulted in a suspension of its shares two months ago. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority is investigating.
NMC was placed into administration this month after an application from one of its biggest lenders, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. The company on Tuesday asked for its shares to be delisted from the London Stock Exchange and was last week kicked out of the blue-chip FTSE 100 index.
VERY MUDDY WATERS
Problems at NMC started in November last year when US activist investor Muddy Waters issued a report claiming the firm understated its debts and overstated asset purchase prices and capital expenditures. It also raised doubts about the independence of some board members.
Last month, the company admitted on two occasions that its debts were billions of pounds higher than it had previously reported. The scandal infected Finablr, best known for its Travelex foreign exchange chain, which is now struggling to survive.
On Tuesday, it was reported that the United Arab Emirates’ central bank had instructed lenders to freeze Shetty's accounts as well as those of his family and other former senior directors.
The directive to freeze, said to have been issued last week, extended to the company’s former executive vice-chairman Khalifa Butti al-Muhairi and to Saeed Mohamed al-Qebaisi, both of whom were controlling shareholders, and to several former executives, Gulf News reported.
The Abu Dhabi bank’s administration application was supported by creditors including Barclays and Standard Chartered, which are owed $146.6m and $157.8m respectively, court documents revealed.
A spokesman for BRS Ventures, Shetty’s main holding company, said that its businesses operated in areas such as food, pharmaceuticals and industrial catering “and are therefore vital cogs in the economy".
"Any such orders would put these business, their employees and their ability to operate and meet ongoing supply at serious risk.”
NMC was founded in the mid-1970s in Abu Dhabi by Shetty, a pharmacist. It now operates in 19 countries, including the UK where it runs the Aspen Healthcare hospitals chain.