Unicorn Investment Bank chairman Yousef Al Shelash has confirmed that the company has instigated a criminal case as well as two civil cases against its former chief executive Majid Al Refai.

Al Shelash said that these had been ongoing since September last year. 'The proceedings are all within the jurisdiction of Bahrain, and do not affect the ongoing operations of the bank,' he added.

'An independent report by Deloitte, commissioned by the General Prosecutor of Bahrain, has found that there were 58 alleged criminal offences committed by Majid Al Refai during his tenure at Unicorn. '

According to him, the General Prosecutor has now referred the case to the Criminal Court.

'The alleged criminal offences mainly relate to transactions by Al Refai which were not approved by the Unicorn board and involved allegedly personally appropriating funds from the bank, contravening the laws of Bahrain and rules and regulations of Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB),' said the Unicorn chairman.

'It is important to note that several reports issued in 2010 by the CBB, PwC and Ernst & Young arrived at the same conclusion as those detailed in the above-mentioned Deloitte report commissioned by the General Prosecutor,' he said.

'The bank has also filed two civil cases against Majid Al Refai and two other former employees of the bank to retrieve funds that were misappropriated,' he said.

'Consequently, the Bahraini authorities have placed two travel bans on Majid Al Refai in the Kingdom,' Al Shelash noted.

'Furthermore, the General Prosecutor has instructed all banks in Bahrain to freeze Majid Al Refai's assets,' he added.

Al Refai has said that he noted with disappointment that the Bahrain Public Prosecutor had referred a case against him to the courts and, that he had provided substantial and substantiated evidence, verified by international forensic investigators, which showed that there was no case to answer.

'I trust that the honourable reputation of Bahrain's judicial system will now provide me with a fair and proper opportunity to prove the total lack of wrongdoing on my part and to highlight the irregular, illegitimate and criminal activities of certain other parties,' he said.

'I submitted clear evidence that specifically implicates the parties bringing the claim against me and which explains those parties' vexatious attempts to slander my name and avoid their liabilities to me,' said Al Refai.-TradeArabia News Service