D-day for Bahrain-based bankers

* username: rupertbu

Three British financiers who have been held in jail in Dubai for 22 months will launch their final defence today.

Bahrain-based Ryan Cornelius, Charles Ridley and Arthur Fitzwilliam, who could face a 20-year jail sentence in connection with a $501 million loan from Dubai Islamic Bank, have claimed that the loan was paid in full when the bank foreclosed on Plantation Holdings which underwrote the loan.

The defence documents which have been presented to the court in Dubai claim that any fraud or forgery did not occur and that the bank, on taking title to its security valued at over $1 billion, missed the opportunity to capitalise upon the sale of Plantation.