A British executive who has been arrested in the UK is now facing extradition to the UAE, after a Sharjah court found him guilty of stealing $264 million.
Martin Graham, who works at distressed-debt firm Oaktree Capital in London, was convicted in absentia by a UAE court and sentenced to three years in prison, the Financial Times reported.
The conviction followed a complaint by Jean-Michel Tissier, a former managing director of Gulmar Group, a contractor that Oaktree had invested in, who alleged Graham had stolen part of a $644 million arbitration award made to a Gulmar subsidiary by Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA.
Both Gulmar and its subsidiary, Gulmar Offshore Middle East, are now in liquidation.
The newspaper reported that Graham was arrested and appeared in a London court on Tuesday. He was released on conditional bail pending a further hearing in October, but denies any wrongdoing.
In a statement published by the Financial Times, Oaktree described the claims as meritless.
“They arise out of a long-pending commercial dispute related to the restructuring of Gulmar that will eventually be resolved in the ordinary course of business. The filing in Sharjah, UAE, that resulted in Mr Graham’s conviction in absentia was not initiated by Gulmar but by one of the parties to that commercial dispute,” Oaktree said.
“Mr Graham intends to resist his extradition through the legal process and Oaktree fully supports him. Oaktree further expects the conviction, which lacks any factual basis, will ultimately be overturned or withdrawn.”
While the UK has signed an extradition treaty with the UAE, extradition can only take place if a British court finds evidence that a crime has been committed.
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