BR Shetty, other NMC former executives face asset freeze by court

A UK court has ordered worldwide asset freeze of NMC Health’s founder BR Shetty, former CEO Prasanth Manghat and a couple of other top former executives upon the request of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB).

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The Abu Dhabi-headquartered healthcare firm collapsed and went into administration last year after financial irregularities were discovered. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank has the highest exposure to NMC Health and leads the negotiations and legal cases against the former management team of the company. ADCB has over Dh3.7 billion ($1 billion) exposure to NMC. In addition, a number of other local and foreign lenders have also exposure to the troubled healthcare firm. NMC has undisclosed a debt of $4 billion.

London-based Financial Times reported that a high court ordered asset freeze against the six former senior executives to prevent the risk of dissipation of assets in light of the bank’s compensation claim for losses due to financial discrepancies.

The court’s judgement cited a witness statement from NMC CEO Michael Davis, who is currently the chief executive, that the alleged fraud was carried out by the former executives.

Last year, while placing the company into administration, a UK judge had said “something had gone very wrong with the management and oversight” of the company.

waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi