The American former head of the Bahrain bank, TIBC, who broke travel restrictions and fled the country last month, has surfaced in his Californian home. In a dramatic twist, Glenn Stewart has told Abu Dhabi newspaper, The National, June 8, that he fled the region because he "did not want any longer to be subject to the arbitrary actions and retaliations of the Bahrain legal system. The only way to fight this was to get out of the country.”
According to the article by The National's Frank Kane, Mr Stewart says he has written to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, alleging violations of his rights by the Kingdom of Bahrain.
TIBC defaulted on debts in May last year, while Mr Stewart was still head of the bank, triggering financial crises at two Saudi enterprises, Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi and Brothers, and the Saad Group. Those crises have since led to accusations of multibillion-dollar fraud and to legal actions in the US, Europe and the Gulf.
Mr Stewart told The National that the powers of attorney had been renewed by the late al Gosaibi family head, Suleiman, with the knowledge of the present leaders of the family, including Saud al Gosaibi, the managing director of the main business.
“The truth is that when times were good, they were happy to let Maan run the show,” Mr Stewart said. “In 2008, I attended corporate events where Maan and Saud were together greeting bankers. It was obvious the al Gosaibi family knew exactly what was going on in the Bahrain business.”
A spokesman for the al Gosaibis said: “Mr Stewart has no basis to assert that the al Gosaibis knew what he was up to in Bahrain. Although Mr Stewart and Mr al Sanea claim that al Gosaibis were members of TIBC’s board of directors, that claim is patently false.”
Click here for the full article in The National.
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