UK court orders asset freeze of NMC founder BR Shetty, other company executives

UK court orders asset freeze of NMC founder BR Shetty, other company executives

A court in London has ordered a worldwide freezing order on the assets of BR Shetty, founder of UAE-based NMC Health, as well as other senior former executives of the company.

The order was secured by NMC's biggest creditor, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), which has exposure of more than $1bn to the group, Financial Times reported.

The order has been issued against six defendants including BR Shetty, NMC's former CEO Prasanth Manghat, two senior financial officers as well as Emirati investors Khalifa al-Muhairi and Saeed al-Qebaisi.

London-listed NMC Health, which had a market value of $10bn at its peak, faced allegations of fraud after investigators discovered $4bn worth of undisclosed debt, bringing its total debt to over $6.6bn. The incident pushed NMC and its sister company Finablr into administration last year. Shetty has denied wrongdoing and claimed that he is a victim of fraud.

In a witness statement presented at the London court by current NMC CEO Michael Davis, he alleged that evidence uncovered by a forensic team shows that fraud was carried out by former executives in the company "from at least 2012 to February 2020“.

NMC is currently undertaking a complete restructuring of its balance sheet