A United Arab Emirates court Sunday dismissed a criminal case against the head of embattled Abraaj private equity group over bounced cheques for millions of dollars, lawyers said. But the lawyers disagreed over whether an-out-of court deal amounted to an interim or permanent settlement. "The case has ended. The court today issued a ruling dropping the criminal case" against Abraaj founder and defendant Arif Naqvi, defence lawyer Habib al-Mulla told AFP.
The case centres on bounced cheques issued by Abraaj to UAE businessman Hamid Jaafar and the failure to repay Jaafar a $300 million (260 million euro) loan. A lawyer representing Jaafar confirmed the court had dismissed the criminal case, but said the parties had only reached an interim settlement.
"A final settlement has not been reached," Essam al-Tamimi told AFP in a text message. The court in Sharjah, one of seven emirates in the UAE, had already delayed its ruling twice to allow time for a settlement. Mulla said the settlement involves the full loan of $300 million.
Details of the deal and repayment procedures were not immediately available. "This is a commercial issue and should have been dealt with on a commercial basis," Mulla said. The public prosecutor had issued an arrest warrant for Pakistani Financier Naqvi - who set up Abraaj in 2002 and saw the firm grow into the region's largest private equity group - but he is outside the UAE.
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