Abdullahs face legal challenge

* username: rupertbu

A legal case filed against the Abdullah brothers, who own the majority of the troubled jewellery company Damas International, will proceed after a judge threw out a motion to dismiss it on jurisdictional grounds.

Amwal AlKhaleej, a Saudi private equity company, sued the Abdullah brothers and a company they own, Damas Investments, in December for more than US$22 million (Dh80.79m) after the brothers allegedly did not pay for shares they agreed to buy two years ago.

The Riyadh-based firm alleges that the brothers agreed to buy more than 22 million of its shares at $1 a share in an agreement dated June 16, 2008, just two weeks before Damas was scheduled to make a public offering of 25 per cent of its stock.