Allocation of Assets, Debts
More on the failure of the National Bank and subsequent lawsuits. (Its a private bank named Watani, National.)
The criminal court decided to hear the plea bargain initiative of the lawyer of the National Bank to rectify the National Bank with the Central Bank. The depositors are beneficiaries and not a side in the current dispute. Impounding of their possessions and loans to the bank prevented them from traveling abroad and froze all their foreign investment companies.
In its session on Sunday one of the lawyers stated that an Iranian investment company intended to leave Yemen this week and is indebted to the National Bank. There is no insurance for the large amount of its debts.
The state’s lawyer for the depositors opposed his colleague’s initiative (Abdullah Hashim, lawyer of the National Bank) that would require the banks to return the depositors’ money in one lump sum.
The hearing will continue on June 7. The court threatened to suspend the trial unless the criminal body execute the court’s previous decisions especially the release of Abduh Muhyub. “There is no point to a trial if its decisions are not executed,” stated Judge Al-Qadri.
The court accepted a new request by the public prosecutor to try tow other individuals (Ahmed Abdullah Al-Adimi and Salah Abdullah Al-Yafai) who are accused of taking money the bank. The total amount reached 300K USD. They were also accused of treason and for facilitating the seizure of money from the bank by using false checks. Al-Adimi personally took 146K USD.
Depositors protested inside the chamber despite the judge demanding they leave.
One female investor stated that if the plea bargain is accepted she would not want to accept the profit from the Central Bank but would demand her capital back.
The defense lawyer stated that the public prosecutor divided the words of the three accused and combined the accusations together. He claims there was no precision in directing the accusations. A general accusation was lobbed against all three men.
He stated, “perhaps they can play with us as citizens, but the court is not able to tamper with the law.” He indicated that the attempt of the public prosecution to annul the normal courts and transfer the cases to criminal courts was illegal.
The first trial session of some board members of the bankrupt private Watani Bank is to be held next Sunday, according to judicial sources.
The trial will be dealing with accusations of fund embezzlement and noncompliance by state laws plus a host of other issues.
The government, represented by the central Bank of Yemen, accuses some of the bank’s board members of embezzling YR 47.8 billion (approx. USD 245 million) and misusing assets deposited by the bank’s clients.
The trial is starting upon the conclusion of the prosecutor’s interrogation of a few of the bank’s board members and finalizing the case against the bank and some of its affiliates.
The Watani Bank had been seized by the CBY and was declared bankrupt on December 8, 2005. The decision at the time was based on the bank’s inability to raise the needed capital as a reserve at the CBY’s, which is now required by new laws.
More from today:
16/4/2006 Penal court prevents WB debtors from traveling
Al-Sahwa.net – The Penal Court, specialized in state
security cases, prevented on Saturday all debtors for
the Watani Bank from traveling abroad and it ordered
to shelve their accounts.
The court decided to release the capitals of people
who proved they have not debts for the bank, ordering
the Prosecution to present more evidences.
The session was adjourned till May 7 to listen to the
lawyer of the suspect Abdullah al-Maznaei, tax chief.
The Prosecution raised last Monday two suspected of
offering help for convicted people to deceive the bank
and steal money that customs deposited in the bank as
well as illegally getting commissions estimated more
than 151,000 US dollar.
Noteworthy, the Watani Bank declared its bankruptcy
late last year after the scandal of losing getting.
The court prevented an Iranian company, has debts
for the bank estimated at $900,000 without guarantees,
to leave the country. The company was planning to
leave this week.
The lawyer of the first suspect Ahmad al-Hamdani,
board chairman of the bank, said that efforts are
being exerted to settle the issue, saying the
settlement would be in favor of the depositors.
However, the depositors who attended the court urged
the court to obligate the Central Bank of Yemen to pay
back their money because CBY licensed the Watani Bank
and it is responsible for what happened, the
depositors said.
