Bank wins UK case against Saudi billionaire

London: Standard Bank won its case against Saudi billionaire Shaikh Mohammad Bin Eisa Al Jaber for the repayment of about $150 million (Dh550 million) in loans.

A London judge ordered the founder of MBI International & Partners to begin repaying the debt immediately, saying there was "no real defence at all" against the claims.

Standard Bank sued Al Jaber in London seeking repayment of $150 million in loans to companies in his MBI group. The Johannesburg-based bank says Al Jaber personally guaranteed the debt. It won a global freezing order on the his assets last year, which forced parts of his JJW Hotels & Resorts chain into administration, Al Jaber said in a court appearance on Thursday. He claims to have lost more than £1 billion (Dh5.8 billion) because of the dispute. Al Jaber, Saudi Arabia's third-richest man with interests in hotels and agribusiness, will appeal and filed a complaint regarding Standard Bank to the Financial Ombudsman service, his spokesman Neil McLeod said in an e-mailed statement. He previously filed a counter-claim at the court accusing the lender of allowing unauthorised trading from a personal account.

Conflict of interest

Standard Bank had an agreement with Al Jaber's personal adviser, Salim Al Khoury, which represented a conflict of interest, his lawyers said in a legal filing. The lawyers said the bank let Al Khoury breach foreign-exchange trading limits, then loaned him money to cover the losses.

Al Khoury said in an e-mailed statement "these allegations are without any merit."

Jones Day, the law firm representing Standard Bank, said in an e-mailed statement that the global freezing order against the Al Jaber's assets granted by a UK court in 2010 would remain "pending satisfaction of the judgment debt."