NMC Health founder claims he is a victim of ‘serious fraud’
The founder of beleaguered hospital operator NMC Health has dismissed allegations and claimed he is a victim of “serious fraud”.
In a rare public statement, BR Shetty said internal investigations had shown that “serious fraud and wrongdoing appears to have taken place at NMC, Finablr, as well as within some of my private companies, and against me personally.”
He claims the fraud was undertaken by a “small group of current and former executives at these companies”. He said that they had forged his signature to clear loans, cheques and bank transfers, of which he had no knowledge.
Shetty has also claimed that members of his own management team had made misleading financial statements regarding the performance of some of his private companies and investments.
The businessman said he had shared all the information and evidence with law enforcement and regulatory authorities.
Shetty stepped down from NMC in February after an independent investigation into the firm’s books found major discrepancies. Earlier this week the Central Bank of the UAE instructed lenders to freeze the accounts of Shetty and his family, according to Reuters.
He said the events since December 2019, when shortseller Muddy Waters questioned NMC’s financial statements, had shocked him as much as anyone else.
NMC, which has been hit hard by allegations of fraud, is currently seeking to delist from the London Stock Exchange. Shares in the healthcare operator were suspended in February and it was placed into administration this month. It came after NMC revised its debt position to $6.6bn, $1.6bn higher than its previous estimate.
Earlier this month, the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank said it had begun criminal proceedings in Abu Dhabi against an unspecified number of individuals in relation to NMC.
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