Former chief executive officer (CEO) of Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), Bruce Hall, is facing extradition after being arrested on corruption and money-laundering charges related to a multi-million dinar bribery scandal, according to international media reports.

Several publications in Australia have reported that Hall was arrested in his hometown of Newcastle, near Sydney, last Thursday and was refused bail by a local magistrate.

He was detained as part of a wide-ranging investigation into allegations of corruption involving deals between Alba and US giant Alcoa.

The news follows the charging of billionaire businessman Victor Dahdaleh, a British-Canadian, earlier this week in connection with the same case.

Britain's Serious Fraud Office is reportedly seeking to extradite Hall over fraud and corruption charges that allegedly occurred while he was Alba CEO between 2001 and 2005, said a report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister newspaper.

A statement by Alba earlier this week said that more than $30 million had so far been recovered from European companies in relation to the ongoing case.

Hall appeared at Sydney's Downing Centre local court yesterday to face officers from the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), according to the online news wing of Australia's national broadcaster ABC.

The SFO is reportedly seeking to extradite the 58-year-old over fraud and corruption charges that allegedly occurred while he was Alba CEO between 2001 and 2005.

According to the SFO, the contracts under investigation were for supplies of intermediate product alumina shipped to Bahrain from Australia and for the supply of further goods and services to Alcoa.

However, 68-year-old Mr Dahdaleh has vowed to clear his name.

The Gulf Daily News, our sister newspaper, reported in March 2008 that Alba was seeking more than $1 billion in damages from Alcoa, which it accused of trying to acquire a controlling stake of its business at a depressed price and extort excessive fees.

The Alba suit, filed in a federal court in Pittsburgh, alleged that Alcoa steered payments for an aluminium precursor ingredient to a group of small, offshore companies, in order to pay kickbacks to at least one Bahraini senior official.

Dahdaleh was allegedly the man responsible for negotiating Alcoa's contracts in Bahrain and was entrusted with accepting payments to be passed on to the company.

According to court documents seen by the paper at the time, Bahrain's government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2003 for the sale of up to 26 per cent of the country's shares in Alba to Alcoa or a controlled affiliate.

It was alleged that the offer was rejected after it was concluded that the government shares had been undervalued, but that the government was subsequently pressured into accepting the deal to ensure the Free Trade Agreement with the US went ahead.

Alba did not respond to news of Hall's arrest or appearance in court yesterday, but earlier this week issued a statement in which it welcomed Dahdaleh's arrest as 'a critical development'.

This week's events come almost a year after three former Alba marketing officials were jailed for seven years and fined BD500,000 on charges of money laundering, fraud and bribery.

They had apparently pocketed more than $17 million in laundered funds through Swiss and British bank accounts between 1999 and 2004. - TradeArabia News Service