Grand Court of the Cayman Islands Awards Default Judgment Against Maan Al Sanea

WASHINGTON, November 8, 2011 -

- $9.2 billion lawsuit brought by AHAB went unanswered by Al Sanea

The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands granted a default judgment today in favor of Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Brothers (AHAB) against Maan Al Sanea.  The Court stated that, “…[AHAB does] have judgment against [Maan Al Sanea] for damages for conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty.”   

AHAB will now take the necessary steps to apply for an assessment of damages owed by Al Sanea. The damages are expected to be in the billions of dollars. The ruling by the court is a significant development in the recovery efforts against Maan Al Sanea, who is also currently being charged with financial crimes in Bahrain in relation to his massive fraud.  In addition, there are legal and regulatory bodies throughout the world looking into the possibility of further criminal activities in the course of this scheme.

Although Mr. Al Sanea recently issued a lengthy public statement asserting his “… complete rejection of [AHAB's] desperate claims…” in the Cayman Islands, he declined to submit any defense to AHAB’s claims in court.

“Maan Al Sanea has repeatedly said he is waiting for his day in court to defend the charges against him,” said Eric Lewis, AHAB’s chief legal coordinator. “Those statements ring hollow.  The Cayman Court determined that it had jurisdiction over this matter and gave Mr. Al Sanea every opportunity to submit a defense.  Clearly, he cannot defend the fraud charges on the merits and the court has acted accordingly.”

AHAB advisor Simon Charlton, a managing director of Deloitte Corporate Finance in Dubai, said, “This is a major victory for the Algosaibis. Al Sanea fought jurisdiction, lost and then lost again. When the time finally came to explain the fraud, the forgeries, the sham banks, the vast, unexplained money flows, he defaulted. It is now clear that once the procedural roadblocks are cleared away, he has no defense to the charges against him.”

Graham Miller, +1-571-438-2276, graham at sphereconsulting.com