Dubai World, a Dubai government holding company, filed a lawsuit in the United States this week against the former head of a subsidiary it accuses of fraud costing the United Arab Emirates firm millions of dollars. "This complaint is based on a sinister plan that was orchestrated and carried out by defendant Herve Jaubert," said the court document shown to Reuters.
The suit was filed on Tuesday. Jaubert was the chief executive of Dubai World subsidiary Exomos, which was established in 2004 to design and manufacture submarines, Dubai World said in a separate statement.
"Dubai World is fully confident that the US court will come to the same conclusion as a Dubai court did in April 2009: that Mr Jaubert misrepresented his ability to design and build submarines to obtain his position as CEO of Exomos, and then used that position to steal millions of dollars from Dubai World," the firm said in the statement.
"The company is accusing him of fraud, theft and related charges linked to his time as CEO of Dubai World subsidiary Exomos," it said, adding that the lawsuit was being filed in Florida because that is where Jaubert had fled to from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Lawyers for Jaubert could not be immediately reached for comment. He is thought to be in the United States and is about to publish a book, "Escape From Dubai", giving his side of the story (http://escapefromdubai.com). Dubai, one of seven emirates in the UAE federation, has been hit badly by the financial crisis with many government and private sector firms facing financial straits.