A Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) court has ordered NMC Healthcare founder and former chief executive BR Shetty to pay $46 million to State Bank of India after ruling that he lied under oath about signing a personal guarantee for a $50 million loan.
In a judgment issued on October 8 and posted on the court’s website, Justice Andrew Moran described Mr Shetty’s testimony as “an incredible parade of lies, of confusing and inconsistent inventions and denials”, during the trial.
The case dealt with whether Mr Shetty signed a personal guarantee in December 2018 for a $50 million loan given to NMC Healthcare.
The loan was repayable in 20 quarterly instalments of $2.5 million each and interest was payable at monthly intervals. NMC Healthcare only made the quarterly repayments of principal due for the quarters ending March, June, September and December 2019, and monthly payments of interest on their due dates until January 30, 2020, the ruling showed.
Mr Shetty denied meeting the bank’s chief executive or signing any document, claiming his signature was forged. However, he later admitted it was his when confronted with photographs, meeting notes and an email from his own account from May 2020.
In the email, Mr Shetty acknowledged discussions with the bank about his guarantee and asked for time to review documents, the ruling said.
“There is overwhelming witness and documentary evidence before me, which satisfies me that Mr Shetty has come before this court and lied on oath in his multiple denials that he signed the personal guarantee, the corporate guarantee and the facility sanction letter,” Mr Moran wrote.
“Mr Shetty’s evidence under cross-examination was at times incoherent and nonsensical. He did not answer questions asked and made assertions that were inconsistent with his own evidence elsewhere and/or with incontrovertible, undisputed facts. For example, agreeing that there was a facility agreement between the bank and NMC in one sentence and then asserting it was all fabricated.”
The ruling awards the state-run Indian bank $46 million, including interest to the judgment date, with additional interest accruing at 9 per cent per year until payment.
NMC Healthcare was founded by Mr Shetty in 1975. It grew from a single clinic to become the UAE’s biggest privately owned healthcare operator, employing thousands of people. The company’s shares were listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2012 and at its peak in 2018, it was valued at £8.58 billion ($10.5 billion).
However, the business crashed after a report from short seller Muddy Waters in December 2019 alleged that the company had inflated the value of its assets and understated its debt. An independent investigation uncovered more than $4.4 billion of previously unreported debt, leading to the company being placed into administration in April 2020.
In 2022, the restructuring process was completed and allowed 34 NMC companies to exit administration and become subsidiaries of a new group. NMC Healthcare said its board appointed David Hadley, former chief executive of Mediclinic Middle East, as the group’s new chief executive.
In 2021, Mr Shetty also filed a case in the courts in New York accusing former directors, two banks and the company’s former auditors of conspiring to “artificially inflate the financials of NMC” and other group companies.
Documented meeting
State Bank of India chief executive Anantha Shenoy said in his testimony that he travelled to NMC's Abu Dhabi offices on December 25, 2018, to witness Mr Shetty sign the guarantee.
He provided photographs and a detailed meeting report from January 13, 2019, showing Mr Shetty thanking the bank’s chairman for the $50 million loan.
However, Mr Shetty claimed the meeting was merely for networking purposes.
“I found Mr Shetty's attempts to bolster his evidence that he did not sign the documents by stating he had never met Mr Shenoy to be false and discreditable manoeuvring, designed to evade his liability under the guarantee,” the DIFC judge wrote.
“Whilst it may be true that Mr Shetty formally stepped back from his role as an executive in NMC in 2017, there is abundant evidence of his very active support for and close involvement in this borrowing by it in 2018.”
Prize for forged signature
Mr Shetty told the court that there was a competition among NMC employees on who can copy his signature and there was a prize for that. On being asked what the prize in the competition was, he said it was the suffering he is enduring now.
However, handwriting experts confirmed that the signatures on the personal guarantee letter, sanction letter and related documents matched Mr Shetty’s handwriting.
He also alleged that the $50 million loan was a scam between the bankers and management in which they looted and made money from NMC.
'The worst thing you can eat'
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Brief scores:
Day 1
Toss: India, chose to bat
India (1st innings): 215-2 (89 ov)
Agarwal 76, Pujara 68 not out; Cummins 2-40
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
Who is Allegra Stratton?
- Previously worked at The Guardian, BBC’s Newsnight programme and ITV News
- Took up a public relations role for Chancellor Rishi Sunak in April 2020
- In October 2020 she was hired to lead No 10’s planned daily televised press briefings
- The idea was later scrapped and she was appointed spokeswoman for Cop26
- Ms Stratton, 41, is married to James Forsyth, the political editor of The Spectator
- She has strong connections to the Conservative establishment
- Mr Sunak served as best man at her 2011 wedding to Mr Forsyth
Results:
6.30pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,400m.
Winner: Walking Thunder, Connor Beasley (jockey), Ahmad bin Harmash (trainer).
7.05pm: Handicap (rated 72-87) Dh 165,000 1,600m.
Winner: Syncopation, George Buckell, Doug Watson.
7.40pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,400m.
Winner: Big Brown Bear, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap (75-95) Dh 190,000 1,200m.
Winner: Stunned, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Handicap (85-105) Dh 210,000 2,000m.
Winner: New Trails, Connor Beasley, Ahmad bin Harmash.
9.25pm: Handicap (75-95) Dh 190,000 1,600m.
Winner: Pillar Of Society, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
MATCH INFO
Qalandars 109-3 (10ovs)
Salt 30, Malan 24, Trego 23, Jayasuriya 2-14
Bangla Tigers (9.4ovs)
Fletcher 52, Rossouw 31
Bangla Tigers win by six wickets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
Company%20profile
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Company%20profile
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
DUBAI%20BLING%3A%20EPISODE%201
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENetflix%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKris%20Fade%2C%20Ebraheem%20Al%20Samadi%2C%20Zeina%20Khoury%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
