Senior JP Morgan exec detained in DIB probe

PROBE CONTINUES: A second former DIB employee has been detailed by Dubai police in connection with an ongoing fraud investigation. (Getty Images)

A senior JP Morgan Chase executive has been detained by Dubai police in connection with a fraud investigation into Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the Gulf's third-largest sharia compliant lender.

The employee is Pakistani national Omair Mooraj, the head of Middle East Islamic finance for the US investment bank, UAE daily The National reported on its website on Sunday.

Mooraj was formally managing director and head of structured finance at Millennium Capital Holding, a DIB subsidiary, the newspaper said.

A JP Morgan official told the newspaper he did not know anything about Mooraj's detention.

"As far as I know, he is in Pakistan since last week to tend to his sick father,” he was quoted as saying.

Mooraj is the second DIB employee to be arrested by police in connection with the investigation, following the detention of a former vice president, Rifaat Othmani, earlier this month.

Othmani was questioned about "bribery allegations and receiving kickbacks from clients in return for favours”, his lawyer was quoted as saying by newswire Bloomberg.

The arrests follow a launch of investigation into alleged financial irregularities at Dubai developer Deyaar, which is 41 percent owned by Dubai Islamic.

Maalouli told Bloomberg Othmani’s detention was not directly linked to the Deyaar investigation.

Dubai Islamic said last week the police investigation would not impact the bank's financial position. It named Usmani and "others" in the statement, without being more specific.

The National said Dubai authorities had detained six other people as part of the probe, including British businessman Charles Ridley.

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