No merit in Ahab counter claim, says Mashreq

Even as the Saudi conglomerate Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers Company (Ahab) was getting set to file a counter-claim against Mashreq in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the Dubai-based bank last night termed Ahab's move as "outrageous" and "without merit".

Mashreq had earlier sued Ahab and its Bahrain-based subsidiary The International Banking Corporation for the alleged non-payment of two currency swaps worth $150 million (Dh550m) and $75m and, subsequently, sued Ahab's individual partners, seeking an attachment of their assets. Yesterday's filing was in relation to the individual partners' case, but the two cases are related.

The latest salvo fired by Ahab accuses Mashreq of "aiding and abetting the fraud of [Saad Group founder Maan] Al Sanea by being wilfully blind to the ultimate purposes of transactions on which the bank was making excessive profits," said Eric Lewis, Partner at Baach, Robinson, and Lewis, and legal counsel to Ahab.

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