Will NMC Healthcare founder B.R. Shetty’s high-stakes $7b legal gamble in the US pay-off?

Will NMC Healthcare founder B.R. Shetty’s high-stakes $7b legal gamble in the US pay-off?

Dubai: Will Dr. B.R. Shetty win it in the US? More specifically, in a New York court of law, where he has sought damages totalling more than $7 billion against his former audit firm, banks, and senior executives of Abu Dhabi headquartered NMC Health, the UAE Exchange Centre and NeoPharma, a pharmaceutical business that he owns. Informed sources in the UAE who had dealt with Shetty in the past are baffled that he has taken on a legal battle in the US despite being involved in sundry legal issues in the UAE, in the UK courts and in India. His assets are under freeze through various court orders, and he remains stuck in India despite repeatedly announcing that he wants to fly back to the UAE to clear his name. "It's interesting that Shetty has sought damages of $7 billion plus - which is more or less the same amount that was siphoned off from NMC's books while he was holding senior positions in the healthcare group," said a senior banker closely involved in the rescue act that the hospital operator went through since April 2020 after finding that loans taken from the banks were never reported in the books.