A top lawyer for the Saudi business group accused of covering up the scale of its crushing debts will present exhaustive evidence on how his clients were repeatedly hoodwinked about the looming financial catastrophe by Maan al Sanea, London's High Court heard.
Ewan McQuater, barrister, for the Al Gosaibi group, told Mr Justice Flaux the court would hear comprehensive evidence about the "machinations" used by Mr al Sanea - once among the richest men in the world - to cover his tracks when arranging huge loans and camouflaging the scale of the debt faced by the company.
The group, which collapsed owing US$9 billion (Dh33.05bn) in 2009, is being sued in London for $220 million by five banks that claim Al Gosaibi deliberately concealed the "guilty secret" of its indebtedness until it finally defaulted on its loans. But Mr McQuater has pinned the blame on the former managing director of the company's the Money Exchange division, Mr al Sanea, whom he termed a "master fraudster" who "went to extraordinary lengths to conceal his activities".
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