Andrew England of The Financial Times Newspaper (England) has reported another twist to the already complicated situation in Bahrain: He reports that the three Awal bankers who are currently detained in that country (see our post of May 6) have launched a lawsuit in the UK's High Court against a company called HIBIS.
Mr England reports that the Awal bankers' lawsuit accuses HIBIS of libellously and wrongfully alleging that they were part of a huge $2bn "scam" that caused Awal to collapse. Court documents apparently state that HIBIS wrongly alleged that the Awal trio had "systematically perpetrated a criminal fraud on a giant scale".
The three bankers reportedly allege that HIBIS is guilty of defamation. They also assert that the HIBIS report - commissioned by the Bahraini authorities, it would seem - was "distributed by Hibis to a law firm and an accounting firm in London". That this accusation has been made in court documents seems to suggest - although this can only be speculation at this stage - that the bankers believe that some sort of confidentiality has also been breached.
The Financial Times reports that - although it declined to comment - HIBIS has confirmed that it will be fighting the case. Interestingly, a UK libel lawyer has said that both parties will be fighting a "test-case". The Central Bank of Bahrain has also declined to comment.
Little is known about HIBIS, beyond the fact that they operate in the field of fraud detection and prevention. Internet research does not yield much information about exactly who HIBIS is. The Group apparently consists of two independent companies, one in the UK and the other in Australia. Its UK website is currently under redevelopment, but it does list two Directors (see http://www.hibis.net).
It is not clear how HIBIS - which it seems is a relatively small company - became involved in events in Bahrain, though one must assume that the company was commissioned by the Bahraini authorities. It is not known whether or not HIBIS remains employed as part of Bahrain's investigation into Awal's default.
Taif Info Center will report more information about the case and HIBIS as it emerges. For now, as the Financial Times makes clear, the HIBIS Report to the Bahraini authrorities and the resulting UK libel case, may have big ramifications: potentially for HIBIS, or for the Awal Bankers and - perhaps - even for the Bahraini authorities, not not least because of the lawsuit launched by Glenn Stewart in Geneva (see our previous post).
This is, yet again, one to watch carefully.
Read the original Financial Times story here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/724daec4-6dab-11df-b5c9-00144feabdc0.html
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